At an extraordinary congress in Ankara, the DBP (Democratic Regions Party) elected its new party leadership, consisting of a woman and a man.

The delegates elected 39-year-old Keskin Bayındır and 45-year-old Çiğdem Kılıçgün Uçar as the new co-chairs of the party. With the change of its leaders, the party is also preparing for the local elections planned for next year.

In a speech at the congress, the former co-chair of the party, Saliha Aydeniz, spoke about the attacks against the Kurdish people and their resistance. “The state, which has employed any means possible against the Kurdish people, could not make them bend the knee. We are fighting for our future.  This is a struggle for the freedom of the Kurdish people, and we will wage this struggle no matter where we are. The DBP stands with those who are resisting in prisons, and those who fight for the language and freedom of the Kurdish people. We will continue our struggle against the isolation imposed on the Kurdish people and their leader. The struggle will go on until Mr. Öcalan and the Kurdish people are free. Freedom will prevail.”

Keskin Bayındır pointed out that the DBP has a 30-year-old history of struggle, saying: “Hundreds of our companions have sacrificed their lives on this path. We are marching on our way today thanks to their struggle. The DBP will continue its march with the strength it draws from its past. We will keep our struggle going in all areas.”

Speaking about the aggravated isolation of Abdullah Öcalan, Bayındır said: “We, the DBP, are determined to break this isolation and ensure Öcalan’s physical freedom. The capitalist states seek to finish off the Kurds. In response, we will fight for Kurdish national unity. We will uphold our responsibilities.”

Çiğdem Kılıçgün Uçar called for the resistance to be enhanced, stating: “The Kurdish question is what determines the regime change in Turkey. It will be insufficient to describe isolation as an unlawfulness alone. It is a state policy that wants to imprison the democratic solution to the Kurdish question at Imrali. We invite everyone who fights for equality in Turkey to join the March to Gemlik on 18 November. Breaking the isolation on Öcalan is achieving a solution to the hundred-year-old question of this country.”

The DBP is a sister party of the HDP (Peoples’ Democratic Party), which is currently being banned. While the HDP and the HEDEP (Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party), which emerged from the Green Left Party, see themselves as parties for the whole of Turkey, the DBP's focus is on the Kurdish provinces. The DBP was formed in July 2014 by renaming the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP). Its declared aim is to represent the interests of the Kurdish population and decentralise Turkey.