Feleknas Uca and Hişyar Özsoy, HDP’s Co-spokespersons for Foreign Affairs, issued a written statement on the arrest of  DBP co-chair, Keskin Bayındır, and other party's executives. 

The statement said: "On 23 December 2022, police raided the headquarters of the DBP in Ankara, its information office in Diyarbakır, and its offices in many other Kurdish provinces. During the raids, the party's record books and many other documents were confiscated. After the raids, 15 party members and executives, including DBP Co-Chair Mr. Keskin Bayındır, were detained. After a four-day detention period, Co-chair Bayindir and the co-chair of DBP’s office in Diyarbakir, Mr Hayrettin Altun, were arrested and sent to prison."

The statement added: "This political operation against the DBP, which is the major constituent of the HDP, should be taken as another preparatory step in the anti-democratic election campaign of the AKP-MHP government. It is clear that the election strategy of the AKP-MHP government is based on war-oriented politics, repressing the opposition, silencing free media, and spreading violence across society."

The statement continued: "Increasing repression by the government of the Kurdish democratic opposition, which seems to have the kingmaker role in the upcoming elections, only shows how desperate and hopeless the government is.

Keskin Bayındır had previously worked as a schoolteacher and trade unionist until he was unlawfully expelled from his job by an emergency government decree in 2016. In 2018 and 2019, he served as a member of the HDP’s party assembly. Since November 2019, he has been serving as the co-chair of DBP. He is now a part of the struggle for justice, democracy, and freedom fought in Turkish prisons."