HDP mayors, executives and members, including former MPs, central executive members and co-mayors, are being accused of ‘being members of a terrorist organisation’ in an investigation on the October 2014 Kobanê protests.

Messages of support for the HDP continue to come through from all over the world.

HDP Istanbul MP Züleyha Gülüm, who followed the prosecution's investigation in Ankara talked to ANF. She said that those who were brought to the Ankara Courthouse continue to give their statements, and that only one prosecutor looked at the investigation. “There had been attempts and attacks on Kars municipality at different levels and now this operation was carried out to take control of the municipality. We all know that there is no legal justification for this. And society knows this as well; but the judicial mechanism was reactivated on false grounds to show that the law was being implemented. This is an investigation that has no acceptable justification. These are steps aimed entirely at seizing the will of the people. Because this investigation is a political coup aimed at suppressing both the People's Democratic Party and the social opposition. But they should not forget that the people of Kars back both the co-mayors and the municipal administration. There was a reaction after Ayhan Bilgen was taken into custody. And it was a reaction that disturbed the government which accelerated plans to seize the municipality.”

HDP Izmir Deputy Serpil Kemalbay, one of the 7 deputies mentioned in the Kobanê investigation, states that supporting the HDP in the face of what happened means protecting democracy: “We said that these operations are a coup against democracy. These operations are mainly aimed at crushing the Kurdish people as well as all those who in Turkey demand democracy. We only think about resisting, fighting and giving hope to the people in the face of these operations. Despite the intervention of law enforcement officers in all provinces so far, we have reacted strongly and with the participation of the public. All those who support and care about democracy must openly support the HDP in this period, in order to prevent even darker days. There is a lot of support from intellectuals, artists and politicians as well as messages from abroad. Because today this support means embracing democracy."