The Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) party council got together for a two-day meeting at the party’s headquarters.

In his opening speech Sezai Temelli, HDP co-chair, said: “For the next 8 months Turkey will enter a critical political period”.

Temelli added: "The struggle of the HDP in this period and the local government elections, to be held next year, will be two important occasions for our party”.

The HDP co-chair then listed the problems Turkey will face in the next 8 months.

“Turkey is now acting according to not the judicial system but the instructions given by the Presidential Palace”, said Temelli, reminding of the illegal imprisonment of Hakkari deputy, Leyla Güven, who has not been released despite having been elected at June 24 elections. Indeed in the past few weeks she has been victim of several disciplinary punishments.

“Torture continues in prisons, torture continues in custody. The torture suffered by those taken into custody in Van was witnessed by their family and the whole country”.

There are, Temelli recalled, over 700 ill prisoners and they are receiving little or no medical care. 

Struggle against ISIS

August, said Temelli, marks the anniversary of the Yazidi massacre in Shengal. The fight against ISIS continues also to make those responsible for Shengal to answer.

Temelli pointed out that no suspect has been taken into custody for the murder of “3 friends who were murdered in Suruç state hospital”, during the elections campaign.

The Parliament is in summer recession, said Temelli and added: “Just before going into recession, the State of Emergency, now has been made permanent.  A system was established by which the governors will have greater authority. If the governor wants to ban people from entering the city, he will be able to do so”.

Turkish economy

“The scheme they designed to fit the single-man regime has ruined the economy. The cost of it for the people of Turkey, workers, women is very high. An economy driven by credit and debt spillovers is reflected by costly collective increases in high borrowing and poverty.”

Temelli said: “One part of the spiral of debt extends to China and the other to South Africa. The resources of the country are on sale. To sell the country means to increase labor exploitation, to plunder nature”.

The HDP co-chair underlined that there is a governance crisis and that “the only way to overcome this crisis is to increase the struggle for democracy against this regime. If we do not struggle for democracy, we will be swept away in this collapse”.

Foreign policy and hostage bargaining

As it happened with economy, said Temelli, “foreign policy has turned into a big hostage bargaining. We are in the presence of a hostage crisis but we are told "military relations are being shaped”. War industry is winning but the peoples in Syria and Turkey continue to lose. Military relations with the US and Russia are going well but not the future of the peoples of the Middle East”.