In Strasbourg yesterday Evrensel newspaper writer İhsan Çaralan spoke at a meeting on ‘democracy, secularism and Islamophobia’, saying that if the HDP exceeded the electoral threshold a new era would open up.

The meeting in Strasbourg was organised by the DIDF. Evrensel newspaper writer İhsan Çaralan stressed the importance of the 7 June elections, adding that although in the Turkish Constitution the Turkish Republic is defined as a ’secular, democratic, social state,’ it had never attained an administrative structure that conformed to this ideal. Çaralan said the system had always ostracised the workers, Kurdish people and Alevis.

He gave the examples of the existence of the Directorate of Religious Affairs, the rejection of the rights of the Kurdish people and the failure to recognise the Cem houses of the Alevis as evidence, adding that since it had taken power the AKP had taken over all institutions of the state. He said: “Now all they are promising the people is to give all powers to Erdoğan in his palace.”

Çaralan commented on the provocation on Tendurek mountain, saying the AKP and Erdoğan were trying to end the peace process, while putting the blame on the Kurds. Çaralan also said that Islamophobia in Europe was not a new phenomenon, and that the atrocities carried out by ISIS and other organisations had caused it to increase.