HDP Group Deputy Chairperson İdris Baluken held a press conference in the Turkish Parliament on the arrest of Amed Co-Mayors Gültan Kışanak and Fırat Anlı and the police raid on Amed Municipal Building.

Baluken emphasized that Coup Commission President Reşat Petek provoked Kışanak as she spoke during the commission meeting yesterday, and the police launched its operation after Petek reported Kışanak’s statements to the police and Erdoğan. Baluken described the arrest of Kışanak and Anlı as an attack on the political will, honor, identity and existence of Kurdish people, and said "This attack is no different that the centuries-old attacks on Kurdish people’s values. We had called upon the government to not repeat these mistakes, but we are facing a colonialist mentality. There is the colonialist fascism of Erdoğan. Colonialist laws are put in place. However, Kurdish people have always stood up for their values. They want to escalate their attacks and carry out them not only here but also everywhere from Efrin to Mosul where Kurds live. All of their attacks have been repelled and their plans have been upset. As their colonialist plans fail, they attack the HDP and democratic politics. They use the law of colonialist enemies and take the representatives of democratic politics as hostage. But they ran into rough weather. Fırat Anlı represented the will of the people against the operations that was launched by the AKP-Gülen alliance. He will never betray the honor of Kurdish people in the face of those staging a coup. Gültan Kışanak defended humanity in torture dungeons after the September 12 coup of Kenan Evren. If the coup plotters believe that they will succeed in breaking the will of Kurdish people, they should remember the end of Kenan Evren."

Baluken underlined that Kışanak was targeted because she exposed the collaboration between the AKP and Fethullah Gülen, and said that the Coup Commission has no function of fighting the coup attempt. Baluken stated that the commission even collaborated in the coup by contacting Erdoğan and that the police, and the Gülen spirit in the AKP is alive and well. Baluken said that if coup plotters had been successful, they would now be arresting Diyarbakır Co-Mayor, however the AKP is doing this and showing that it itself is the coup plotter today.

Baluken underlined that the AKP operation was connected with the debates on the presidential system, and said "Erdoğan wants to achieve the presidency by spilling blood, however this has caused great anger. This anger will upset all coup plans. They have the means to carry out all sorts of attacks, but will face the consequences of these attacks. If they think that they will break the will of Kurdish political movement, which has been the backbone of the democracy movement in Turkey, their goal will fail. Their end will be like the end of Mehmet Ağar."

Baluken recalled the Coup Commission President Reşat Petek’s relations with the Gülen movement, and continued: "We will not respond to the accusations targeting our mayors. The person that makes these accusations is the chief of al-Nusra and the protector of ISIS. The jihadists that want to meet with the AKP first come to this person. How dare he claims that Kurdish politicians have connections to terrorism? He has been supporting the structure that has carried out coups and shed blood for 40 years. If they want to search municipalities, they should search İstanbul, Ankara and Bursa municipalities. We know well which public resources you have allocated to the coup plotters. We have had enough, Kurdish people’s patience has run out. Non-stop resistance has begun. We will be on the streets every day, every hour. We will not go home after making a statement but remain on the streets until the end of political genocide operations. As the HDP group, we will be a part of this resistance."