Support from Turkey’s CHP to ‘justice and conscience meetings’ of HDP

Turkey’s second largest opposition party HDP (People’s Democratic Party) continues its ‘Justice and Conscience Duty’ meetings with the demand of release of the party’s co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş, former co-chair Figen Yüksekdağ, and 9 MPs who have been detained for over eight months over accusations of ‘terror propaganda’ and other terror related charges.

MP from Urfa and the Spokesperson of the party, Osman Baydemir, gave statements at Ekin Ceren Park of Diyarbakır, where HDP members have been gathering since Tuesday (July 25).

Saying chair of AKP and the president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, should ‘apologize to HDP’s co-chair Demirtaş and to the people’, spokesperson Baydemir also commented on the recent decision of the AKP MPs in parliament to strip two HDP MPs of seat due to ‘absence’.

Reminding about the excessive number of parliamentary sessions missed by the former PM Ahmet Davutoğlu throughout his time in office, Baydemir criticized the decision of the ruling party members – which does not have a precedent – and said:

“There has been a change in bylaws of the parliament. It has only one meaning: the worst horror movie of fascism is being recorded. And, the main character of this film is afraid of even his own shadow. We are here on duty for ‘Justice and Conscience’ just so this horror movie does not turn into an even worse nightmare”.

Referring to the new restrictions on freedom of expression of lawmakers, Baydemir also said: “So, saying ‘Kurdish, Armenian, Assyrian, Yazidi, or Alevi people’ or saying ‘massacres of Dersim, Çorum, and Sivas’ are now forbidden and subject to punishment. We promise that we are not going to get silenced. We’ll call the Kurds ‘Kurdish’; and call Kurdistan ‘Kurdistan’. And, if there had been a genocide somewhere, well call it a ‘genocide’. We are not going to give in to fascism”.

Main opposition party CHP’s provincial head Mehmet Sayın visited the HDP MPs at their demonstration site and extended his party’s support.

“Streets are yours! Continue on with the search for rights, law, and conscious on the streets! We (as CHP) full-heartedly support this demonstration started by HDP”, CHP executive said.

Source: https://www.birgun.net/haber-detay/hdp-li-baydemir-den-erdogan-a-demirtas-tan-ozur-dile-172054.html