Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Central Executive Board issued a statement on the arrest of Democratic Regions Party (DBP) Co-President Kamuran Yüksek, and underlined that the state’s elimination operation entered a new phase with the arrest of Yüksek.

In its statement, the HDP board stated that Yüksek was detained illegally and later arrested arbitrarily for his speeches during party and public meetings, and described Yüksek’s arrest as a political attempt of intimidation. The board said that the AKP government wants to appoint administrators to the municipalities that it had lost to the DBP through elections, has been arresting co-mayors and municipal assembly members, and is now targeting DBP Party Assembly members and the party’s Co-President.

'AKP’S ELIMINATION OPERATION ENTERED A NEW PHASE'

The HDP Central Executive Board objected to the arrest of the Co-President of DBP; a party that won 102 municipalities and has hundreds of municipal and provincial assembly members. The board said that the AKP government’s elimination operation against the Kurdish political movement entered a new phase, and the government has no tolerance for political parties that effectively oppose its policies.

The HDP statement underlined that the recent arrests reflected the AKP’s desperation, and recalled the government’s curfews and massacres in Kurdistan where law and human rights are non-existent. The board suggested that the AKP was attacking everyone that exposed its crimes in the national and international arenas.

The HDP board emphasized that no government ever has attained unlimited power through cruelty and oppression, and the AKP would eventually fail to wipe its opponents from the political arena.

'WE WILL NOT SURRENDER'

Central Executive Board emphasized that the struggle for peace and democracy in Turkey against lawlessness and attacks would continue, and the price for freedom and democracy would be paid but nobody would surrender to those that attack democratic politics with oppression, destruction and arrests.