HDP’s Bilgen: Turkey needs to solve crises, not exploit them

Bilgen said: “We do not accept to see any more politician held as hostage."

HDP Parliamentary Group Chair Ayhan Bilgen held a press conference in Parliament to discuss this week’s agenda.

Bilgen said: “For 2 years now our former co-chairs and many deputies are in prison. Two years detention is considered as a long detention according to international standards accepted in Turkey's internal law. It is very clear that this is a political problem. DEP deputies were kept in prison for 10 years. Turkey in the end said ‘we did our part, now is the turn of Europe’ referring to Turkey's membership process”.

Bilgen added: “We do not accept to see any more politician held as hostage. DEP deputies were kept in prison for 10 years, what happened? Are their cases, their political claims over? Or is it rather that democracy in Turkey has been eaten by a coup? The June 24th election results are enough to show that not even with the latest arrests they have reached their political goals”.

Just as legal crises, said Bilgen, “ultimately lead to social fractures and psychological ruptures, so foreign policy crises turn into regional conflicts if only acted with a view to managing and exploiting them. Today, the question of the non-settlement of the Cyprus problem is the exercise in the Eastern Mediterranean, the exploration of oil and its potential to turn into a regional conflict. The way the crisis in Syria is managed has the potential to turn into regional wars. It is necessary to act with the understanding of solving problems”.