Anders Knape, President of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, made the following statement: I express my grave concern about the decision of the Turkish authorities to suspend the elected mayors of three metropolitan cities in the south-east of the country, namely Diyarbakir, Mardin and Van, and to replace […]
Maja Kocijancic: Dismissals and detentions of local politicians and appointment of trustees seriously risk damaging local democracy
Statement by Maja Kocijancic, spokesperson for EU’s Foreign Affairs and Security Policy on the suspensions of our mayors and detainment of hundreds of people in south-east Turkey: Turkish authorities have temporarily suspended the democratically elected mayors of Diyarbakir, Van and Mardin in south-east Turkey while hundreds of people have been detained as part of a […]
Trustees appointed to HDP Municipalities
The Erdogan regime is determined in maintaining its authoritarian and unlawful rule that has been targeting the Kurdish provinces for the last three years. Since the local elections of 31 March 2019, HDP municipalities have been under constant threats and attacks of Mr Erdogan-led AKP government and their ultra-nationalist MHP allies. These threats took on […]
Meeting with PACE President Liliane Maury Pasquier and the Council of Europe Secretary General Thorbjørn Jagland
A delegation consisting of honorary president Ertuğrul Kürkçü, vice co-chair Hişyar Özsoy, Foreign Affairs Commission spokeswoman Feleknas Uca, Mardin MP Pero Dündar and HDP Strasbourg representative Faik Yağızay met with the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe President Liliane Maury Pasquier and the Council of Europe Secretary General Thorbjørn Jagland, and discussed Leyla Güven’s […]
The worsening situation of opposition politicians in Turkey: what can be done to protect their fundamental rights in a Council of Europe member State?
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on Thursday adopted a resolution on the worsening situation of opposition politicians in Turkey. Summary of the resolution as follows: The Monitoring Committee recalls that political opposition in and outside parliament is an essential component of a well-functioning democracy. In that context, it is concerned about the deterioration of […]
HDP’s delegation is in Portugal to attend PES congress
Our delegation consisting of our vice co-chair and Diyarbakır MP Hişyar Özsoy, Van MP Bedia Özgökçe and our Brussels representative Eyyüp Doru paid visit to Portugal to attend the European Socialist Party (PES) congress held in Lisbon. Our delegation had several meetings with the political groups and personalities during their visit. In her speech to the […]
HDP’s delegation – Meeting with Chancellor Merkel
A delegation consisting of our Vice Co-Chair and Bingöl MP Hişyar Özsoy, Group Deputy Chair İdris Baluken and Mardin MP Mithat Sancar met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel at 9:30 pm this evening at the residence of the German Ambassador. The political situation and latest developments in Turkey and the region, oppressive acts against our […]
French and German delegations visit HDP’s members
The senators from French parliament Cecile Duflot and Sergio Coronado, and the representatives from Embassy of France visited our Parliamentary Group. The delegation met our Vice Co-chair in charge of Foreign Affairs, Hişyar Özsoy, our Parliamentary Administrator adn Istanbul deputy Sırrı Süreyya Önder, our deputies from Batman Ayşe Acar Başaran and Diyarbakır, Ziya Pir. The […]