The Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) reacted to the mass arrests in the run-up to the parliamentary and presidential elections in Turkey and called for joint resistance against the repression of the Erdogan regime.

The statement of the HDP's Central Executive Council said: "The AKP/MHP government has lost its popular support and social legitimacy and accelerated its political operations just days before the elections."

In the course of the first operation on Tuesday against the Kurdish opposition and civil society, 144 of 216 wanted persons nationwide were detained, and so far 48 arrest warrants have been issued for lawyers, journalists, politicians, activists and artists. On Saturday, in an investigation led by the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, the co-chair of the Dicle-Firat Journalists' Association (DFG), Dicle Müftüoğlu, as well as journalist Sedat Yilmaz, correspondent of the MA news agency, and many other people were detained in Amed and other cities. An operation launched today in Istanbul targeted the socialist opposition. Among those detained are the ESP president Şahin Tümüklü, ETHA editor Nadiye Gürbüz and candidates of the Green Left Party (Yeşil Sol Parti) and members of the Federation of Socialist Youth Associations (SGDF) and the Socialist Women's Councils (SKM).

The HDP said: "We have said it before, let us say it again. These waves of arrests are a political coup against the will of the electorate in Turkey." The mass arrests are part of the government's preparations for organised electoral fraud, also affecting opposition journalists who could expose such attempts. The government has involved the police and the judiciary in the election campaign and the security of the elections is seriously endangered.

The judiciary and the law enforcement agencies are committing a crime when they interfere in the elections. Our party and the forces fighting for democracy in Turkey will oppose this coup to the end. We did not submit to the trustee coup, nor will we submit to today's electoral coup. We have the strength and determination to stop these immoral operations of the government and the Minister of Criminal Affairs [Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu]. The government will not be able to escape the looming historic defeat through a coup at the ballot box.”

Appealing to all political parties, the opposition and the democratic public, HDP said: "Stand up to this electoral conspiracy! It is about all of us. As long as there is silence against the intimidation attempts, this fascist spiral will expand and hit all sectors. After the local elections of 31 March 2019, the electoral coup will not stay where it started, just as the trustee coup was not confined to our municipalities but became a method and a form of governance. That is why we call on everyone to stand together against this regime of oppression and repression."