New protests have been held in Turkey against the detention on Thursday night of HDP MPs Leyla Güven and Musa Farisoğulları after they had been stripped of their parliamentary immunity. CHP Istanbul MP Enis Berberoğlu is now under house arrest after a brief detention.

Women have issued statements against this “coup from above” in front of the HDP headquarters in Amed, Batman, Van, Şırnak, Urfa and Hakkari.

Several protests in Turkey were attacked by the police on Friday. At today's rallies, organized by the HDP Women's Council and the "Free Women Movement" (TJA), special attention was drawn to the Kurdish politician Leyla Güven, who is also the co-chair of the civil society organization DTK (Democratic Society Congress). She has already spent many years in Turkish prisons.

Güven became known worldwide through the hunger strike she launched while in Amed prison at the end of 2018 demanding the end of the isolation of Abdullah Öcalan. The hunger strike was joined thousands of people in many countries and in Turkish and Kurdish prisons. Güven was detained in 2018 because she publicly criticized the illegal invasion of Afrin carried out by Turkey.

Amed

Leyla Güven was deliberately targeted by the government because she represents the Kurdish mothers and women, said TJA spokeswoman Ayşe Gökkan in Amed.

Van

Activists in Van held a banner reading: "We are proud of Leyla Güven". Öznur Bartin, the co-chair of the HDP in Van, said: “There are many Leylas in our history. For us, Leyla means resistance, it means fighting for peace and a decent life.”

Şirnak

At the rally in Silopi (Şirnak), HDP MP Nuran Imir described the arrest of Leyla Güven as an attack on all women: The patriarchal mentality is directed against the fight of women and against democracy."

Urfa

In Suruç police prohibited a statement to be read in front of the HDP headquarters. The police threatened to arrest activists. HDP MP Ayşe Sürücü said: "The current government has turned this country into hell." To which the police chief replied: "What is hell for you, for us is heaven."