The Democratic Society Congress (DTK) issued a written statement regarding the upholding of the prison sentence given to former co-chair Selma Irmak.

The DTK said: "The punishment of Selma Irmak, one of our former co-chair, who has been held as a political hostage in prison for a long time, has been approved by the Supreme Court, violating the rights of universal law, justice, equality and right to organise. Those who approve of this sentence forget that Selma Irmak is, above all, a revolutionary Kurdish woman. This sentence is in fact a sentence targeting all women, democratic politics and all Kurdish people who respond with resistance in all areas of life."

The DTK also called on "the AKP: Your insistence on Kurdish hostility has turned into an aimless and blind policy. Review your relations with the Kurdish people, without forgetting that you will have to come to the door of the Kurds one day. The struggle of the Kurdish people for freedom, democracy and equality has existed before you and will exist after you."

The DTK continued: "Regarding the AKP illegal and manipulative policies towards the DTK we need to share this with the democratic public and the press. The Democratic Society Congress is the voice of the Kurdish People! You cannot silence our voice. The work of our Congress is for nothing more than the just and legitimate demands of the Kurdish people. Defending the DTK is defending the Kurds. Defending the DTK is to defend the democratic solution of the Kurdish issue. The struggle of the Democratic Society Congress will continue until the freedom problem of our people is resolved. Our utopia to create a democratic society will reach its target despite all the pressures."

The DTK also called "for solidarity both with our congress and with our politicians and all our friends. We demand the end of these illegal decisions targeting also our other former chair, Aysel Tuğluk, and now Selma Irmak."