The Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) is starting a five-day star march to Ankara on Monday. The starting points are Edirne in western Turkey, where former HDP leader Selahattin Demirtaş has been held as a political hostage in prison for over three and a half years, and Hakkari in the far east of Turkish territory, where Leyla Güven was elected a member of parliament in the Turkish National Assembly. Leyla Güven, who is also co-chair of the civil society organisation DTK (Democratic Society Congress), and her parliamentary group colleague Musa Farisoğulları were both stripped of their parliamentary mandate last week.

HDP deputy Tayyip Temel spoke to ANF about the planned march on Ankara. He emphasised that the action is not only about the withdrawal of members' mandates, but rather an initiative to stop the abuse of power by the ruling party AKP.

Asked whether the constant repression against elected representatives and the Turkish state's usurpation of HDP-run municipalities has led to accustomedness within the Kurdish population and the democracy movement, the HDP MP for Van replied: "Absolutely not, because the HDP and the political tradition for which the HDP stands are not based on office. Every vote for the HDP and every participation in events and activities stands for a political stand. Take, for example, the local elections of 31 March 2019, in which the people elected new mayors. Already in the run-up to these elections, government representatives had bluntly announced that trustees would again be appointed to the municipalities. This was a signal to the Kurdish people that they can vote for whomever they want, but that their votes have no value because the will of the voters is not recognised anyway. And what have the people done? They still did not vote for the AKP and have once again manifested their will. The people are extremely angry about the trustees and the withdrawal of the mandates of members of parliament. This creates the feeling to call those in power to account and to stand behind the HDP."

The democracy march starting on 15 June will not only focus on the withdrawal of mandates, Temel noted and continued: "We have already published a roadmap document. As part of a broad democratic alliance, there is a need for resistance at the social level against Turkey's bad government and its abuse of power. Everyone is angry with the government, but everyone is alone in this. People must therefore come together and demand accountability in an effective way. While we have been working on this, our deputies have had their mandates revoked. This has created the need to act even more quickly and with an even more effective plan to stop this political coup."

Regarding the democracy march, Temel said: "We will carry Turkey to Hakkari and Kurdistan to Edirne and reveal what kind of a Turkey we as the HDP dream of, and the fact that HDP is a project for entire Turkey. On the way everyone will be able to come up with their own solutions for the freedom of all identities.”

Meanwhile, the Turkish Ministry of the Interior has issued an order on the basis of which several provinces have been closed off and all public events have been banned. This is to meant ban the HDP's march for democracy. Nevertheless, Tayyip Temel is confident: "The democracy march is taking place for the future of Turkey and for a democratic construction. We are determined to carry out our initiative despite all obstacles.”

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