Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Party Assembly convened in the capital city of Ankara yesterday (March 28). Chaired by Co-Chairs Pervin Buldan and Mithat Sancar, the meeting’s main agenda was to determine the course of action of the party in the upcoming period.
Speaking before the meeting, Mithat Sancar addressed the state of rights and freedoms in Turkey as well as the closure case filed against the party by the Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office of the Court of Cassation on March 17, when HDP’s Kocaeli MP Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu was also expelled from the Parliament due to a final ruling of conviction over a tweet.
“People in this country want freedom and equality, they lay claim to their will. Millions who gathered in Newroz sites gave a clear and powerful answer to the agendas imposed on them,” said Sancar, adding that “this answer was the message of ‘We claim our will, we defend our freedom’.”
“Yes, this message has been the strongest support for us in this period,” underlined HDP Co-Chair Sancar.
‘HDP is not a building’
Sancar also noted that “the line of thought that will bring a free and equal life and peace to this country is the line of thought of the HDP”, adding that “the power that will eliminate pressure, bans, plunder and lies in this country is the power of peoples clamped around the HDP.”
“As they know it, they are putting the operations that will take us out of this equation into place. But these are in vain,” he added.
Reiterating that “closing the HDP is a futile effort,” Sancar said, “Because the HDP is not a building. It is not limited to persons. The HDP is a strong line of thought. It is the bright future of this country. For this reason, they cannot close the HDP. The effort to close the HDP is just an open confession of the fact that their time in power is coming to an end.”
“We will defend the HDP both as a line of thought and as an organization. We will definitely keep the HDP alive. Everyone should know that and make their calculations accordingly,” he underlined.
‘Convention is women’s constitution’
Referring to Turkey’s withdrawal from the İstanbul Convention by the decision of President and Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Sancar said, “They could abolish the İstanbul Convention one night by disregarding the Constitutional law. The answer is once again given by the powerful voice of women’s movement from squares.”
Defining the İstanbul Convention as the “constitution of women”, he noted that “withdrawing from the convention is not a simple matter.”
“The government has become well aware of it. Because withdrawing from the İstanbul Convention is a plan to build the future in the country with a violent environment. And it is the women’s powerful struggle that tears down this darkness,” added Mithat Sancar further.
‘Europe should not stay silent’
HDP Co-Chair Sancar also addressed the European Council and European Union (EU) within the context of HDP’s closure case and underlined that “if they stay silent and remain as mere onlookers, it will mean that they will trample upon their own principles and their own values.”
Noting that the HDP’s call to the international community is not a “call or cry for help”, Sancar said, “Because we derive our strength from the people, we derive our determination from our rightfulness.”
“If we remind people of something, it is because everyone is obligated to fulfil their responsibilities. We will remind them of this responsibility,” he said, concluding his remarks by referring to the indictment of the closure case against the HDP briefly as follows:
“As a last word, let me note this: Such a vile indictment could not have been issued by legal professionals.
“Those who issued it are the people who have got used to writing simple and ridiculous political declarations. Therefore, the indictment of the closure case was not issued in the building of the Court of Cassation’s Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office. It was issued in the party headquarters of the government’s junior partner [MHP] and finalized in the palace of the senior partner.”
Source: www.bianet.org