399 days after his arrest, the first hearing of Selahattin Demirtas, the Co-Chair of the Peoples’ Democratic Party, is scheduled to begin in Ankara on 7 December 2017. The prosecutors demand 142 years imprisonment for Selahattin Demirtas.

Most of the indictment includes press releases, speeches at conferences, panels and similar legal and political activities. The criticism Demirtas raised against the ruling party in his speeches within his political and public activities has been considered as crime, he has been labeled as “terrorist,” “traitor” or “enemy”.

For this reason, prominent international thinkers, authors and politicians such as Noam Chomsky, Slavoj Žižek, Nancy Fraser, Elfriede Jelinek among others have signed an appeal, in which they offer their support for political and societal forces facing repression by the Erdogan regime. “The systematic persecution of the opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), the imprisonment of its co-chairs Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag, as well as 13 further HDP deputies, 4 of whom have since been released, is an attack on Turkey’s democratic plurality that we cannot accept”, they state.

But there is no democracy without an opposition, they explain further. Regarding Demirtas’ hearing they have a clear stance: “We stand with those who fight for democracy and justice. We demand the immediate release of HDP co-chairs and other deputies in Turkish prisons.”

The appeal, titled "The Colours of Freedom", reads;

“The world we live in is a multilayered endeavor. More than seven billion of us speak thousands of languages and pray to at least as many gods. People fight for their freedom, their rights, their love and their happiness, and their efforts pay for: they help turn the world into a diverse and more colorful place – but not everywhere. It might not always make headlines in the news or flood our timelines on social media, but in many countries people fight for democracy and justice every day. One of these countries is Turkey.

In Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Turkey, the year 2017 is not colorful but black and white. The world is divided into those loyal to Erdoğan and those who are not, the latter being labeled as “terrorists,” “traitors” or “enemies” by his increasingly authoritarian regime. Opposition – no matter from whom – is punished with full rigour. It is clear to us that the Turkish government has been using the abortive coup of 15 July 2016 as an opportunity and pretext to silence every single oppositional voice in the country. Dissenting opinions are censored; politicians, journalists, intellectuals, human rights activists, academics and many others imprisoned. There are also many forms of resistance to this tyranny – within the parliament and beyond it. The aim is to prevent Turkey from turning into a willful dictatorship of fear and repression.

These political and societal forces facing repression by the Erdoğan regime deserve our respect, sup- port and solidarity. We will not leave Turkey to Erdoğan’s tyranny but stand in solidarity with all democratic forces in Turkey.

As trivial as it may sound, there is no democracy without an opposition. The systematic persecution of the opposition People’s Democratic Party (HDP), the imprisonment of its co-chairs Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ, as well as 13 further HDP deputies, four of whom have since been released, is an attack on Turkey’s democratic plurality that we cannot accept.

We stand with those who fight for democracy and justice. We demand the immediate release of HDP co-chairs and other deputies in Turkish prisons. They represent over six million voters in Turkey who arduously struggle to establish a democratic future wherein human rights, fundamental freedoms, and the rule of law would be respected.”

The signatories are:

Noam Chomsky, Antonio Negri, Michael Hardt, Chantal Mouffe, Slavoj Žižek, Colin Crouch, Elfriede Jelinek, Axel Honneth, Hito Steyerl, Joseph Vogl, Nancy Fraser, Rebecca Harms, Wolfgang Tillmans, Yanis Varoufakis, Gabriele Zimmer, Takis Hadjigeorgiou, Jean-Paul Denanot, Costas Mavrides, Marek Plura, Tiny Kox, Marietta Tidei, Sergei Stanishev, Monica Frassoni, Konstatin Woinoff, Pablo Iglesias Turrión, Pierre Laurent, Garry Adams, Jonas Sjöstedt, Pernille Skipper, Katja Kipping, Bernd Riexinger, Eric Coquerel, Danielle Simonnet, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, Evelyne Huytebroeck, Lena Rådström Baastad.

Further information on the Demirtas indictment:

- It is a bagged indictment that was compiled by merging thirty-one separate dossiers and that is based on speeches Mr Demirtas gave in different places on different dates. The prosecutors, who had prepared nine of the dossiers, were arrested on charges of being a member of the Fethullah Gulen Terrorist Organization (FETO) and aiding the coup attempt on 15 July 2016. This very prosecution demands 142 years imprisonment for Selahattin Demirtas based on the dubious indictment.

- The alleged ‘criminal actions’ in the majority of the dossiers date back to 2011, 2012 and 2013. But, the preparation dates of the dossiers are in the first four months of 2016, when the President and the Prime Minister said 'immunities must be lifted.' Even this reveals that the dossiers are prepared for political reasons, not legal ones.

- 300 out of the 501 pages of the indictment involve press releases and the speeches at conferences, panels and similar legal and political activities. The criticism Mr Demirtas raised against the ruling party in his speeches within his political and public activities has been considered as crime. All of these dossiers should be evaluated in the context of legislative irresponsibility.

- There is no parliamentary decision that orders the stripping of Selahattin Demirtas’ parliamentary immunity for "establishing and managing a terrorist organization". Despite the fact that there were no charges of "establishing and managing a terrorist organization" in the dossiers prepared against him, the indictment involved this charge. Thus, the court does not have jurisdiction to judge Selahattin Demirtas based on these charges.