HDP co-chair Buldan: The end of the tyrant is near

"If cruelty in one place keeps growing, the end of the tyrant is not far off. For the AKP, too, the end of the road is in sight," explains HDP co-chair Pervin Buldan at her party's congress in Ankara.

Pervin Buldan, co-chair of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), spoke on current political developments in Turkey at the congress of the Ankara Provincial Association. "We are a party that continues to stand on its feet even though half of us are in prison," Buldan declared in a pugnacious speech. "We give our word that we will nevertheless continue to stand for peace and democracy on the streets, in parliament, in prison and in all areas of life. We are aware that especially in the prisons thousands of comrades are following our struggle. We can all see how tyrannically the AKP government is behaving towards the opposition in Turkey and especially towards the Kurdish people. We live in a time where the oppressed stand upright against tyranny."

The HDP is confronted with a ruler's mentality that begrudges the Kurdish people the air they breathe, said the party leader: "However, as long as the HDP and the democrats continue to reclaim democracy in Turkey, the time is not far off when the tyrants will step down. The AKP is now unable to govern. After 17 years in government, the country is suffering from a severe economic crisis and polarisation. The policy of the governing coalition of AKP and MHP is characterised by theft, corruption, denial and the intention to destroy the Kurdish people. Those who ignore the Kurdish and democratic demands for peace will be voted out of office in the next elections. The daily arrest operations are an attempt to divert attention from the crisis they themselves have created," said the HDP chairwoman.

Pervin Buldan also criticised Turkey's military invasion launched in Northern Syria on 9 October and continued: "Wherever Kurds are, whether in Turkey or in the neighbouring country, they are in the government's sights. The operation in Syria reveals this truth. Nobody has the right to destroy the atmosphere of fraternity and peace created by the Kurds and all other population groups living there and to change the demographic composition. Get your hands off the Kurds! Stop making politics about the Kurds. The Kurds have been demanding peace for centuries, but they are subjected to repeated massacres. It should be clear that the Kurds in this country will continue their centuries-old resistance.”

At the end of her speech, the HDP chairwoman said: "If the cruelty in one place becomes ever greater, the end of the tyrant is not far off. Perhaps not immediately, but in the near future we will see what has become of the one-man regime. For this reason, we must strengthen solidarity with one another and our struggle."

Trustees appointed to 32 Kurdish municipalities

While the HDP's provincial associations hold their scheduled congresses, party politicians are arrested and elected mayors deposed every day. Even before the local elections on 31 March, the Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan had announced that he would take over all HDP municipalities if he won the elections. Since 19 August 2019, 32 former HDP-run municipalities have been placed under trustee administration by the AKP regime. 21 mayors have been imprisoned. Six elected mayors were not even able to take office because the election committee refused to recognize them. In their place AKP candidates were appointed as mayors despite their election defeat. Eaerlier today, a trustee was appointed to the municipality of the Sur district in Amed (Diyarbakir) after the two democratically elected co-mayors had been arrested yesterday.