PES President Sergei Stanishev has arrived in Turkey on October 22 to support PES member parties HDP and CHP ahead of the elections on November 1. He was accompanied by Deputy Secretary General Giacomo Filibeck and Advisor Karen Mets.
He hold a series of meetings with Selahattin Demirtas, co-leader of the HDP party, and Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader of CHP, to discuss the upcoming elections and stated the PES was convinced that their sister parties HDP and CHP can provide a real alternative for a new Turkey based on fundamental values such as rule of law and freedom of media.
Sergei Stanishev said they were in Turkey to show solidarity with the HDP and the CHP because those parties stand for a forward-looking, European-facing Turkey. He said they were PES’s solid partners and the PES stand ready to cooperate with them in the future.
Stanishev stressed that Turkey suffered an enormous tragedy less than two weeks ago with the Ankara attacks and that HDP in particular suffered tremendous losses. For that he offered his sincerest condolences for the friends and family members lost.
“These attacks, and others before them, were designed to destabilize the society and stoke fears. These fears cannot paralyze the democratic process in the country. People living in the predominantly Kurdish areas in the Southeast of Turkey must be able to vote freely and securely. The groundbreaking turnout of 86% during the last elections was an inspiration to many European countries. We hope to see the same results this time. We condemn all efforts of the government and other parties to get in the way of free and fair elections.”
Peoples' Democratic Party – Representation in Europe