A HDP (Peoples’ Democratic Party) committee held meetings with Die Linke (Left Party), Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the Greens in Germany’s Federal Parliament on Tuesday to draw attention to the Erdoğan regime’s operation to invade Afrin. The committee was comprised of Imrali Delegation Member Hatip Dicle, HDP MPs Faysal Sarıyıldız, Tuba Hezer and Nursel Aydoğan and Cizre Co-mayor Leyla İmret.

The committee also met with Federal Parliamentary Vice President Claudia Roth, and later on held a joint press conference. Roth, a Greens MP, condemned the attacks against Afrin and stated that no weapons should be sold to Turkey. “No weapons should be sold to a country with human rights violations,” said Roth and pointed out the human rights report of the Erdoğan regime.

ROTH: “WE WILL DISCUSS AFRIN IN THE PARLIAMENT”

Roth said the Federal Parliament is planning to hold a session this week where the attacks on Afrin are to be discussed and added: “We can’t say there are human rights in Turkey, and Germany should not sell weapons to such a country. Members of parliament, mayors, journalists and scientists are imprisoned in Turkey.”

Roth stated that she has also discussed with the committee the trustees appointed to Kurdish municipalities and the situation of academics who called for peace, and continued:

“I have known Hatip Dicle since the ‘80s, I had met with him and Vedat Aydın in 1989. I had monitored the imprisonment process of Ahmet Türk, Leyla Zana, Hatip Dicle and their friends, and I watch in disbelief as we return to that time. The Kurdish language and songs have been banned again. There is a deja vu in Turkey, and Germany and Europe need to implement a new policy in the face of this.”

DICLE: “AFRIN WAS THE ONLY CITY THAT WASN’T DESTROYED”

mrali Committee Member Hatip Dicle spoke after Roth and talked about the latest situation in Turkey, summarizing the Turkish state and their gangs’ attacks against Afrin. Dicle said the meetings in the Federal Parliament had been productive and added: “Our main topic in the meetings was Afrin. As you know, the Turkish Medical Association has been threatened and exposed by the President for saying no to war. And this morning, their members were detained in simultaneous police raids.”

Dicle said they as the committee were in solidarity with the TMA and that they “condemn this wave of detentions.” Dicle said he would be using “Erdoğan” instead of “Turkey” throughout his speech, “because in Turkey, Erdoğan holds all judiciary, executive and legislative power. Erdoğan said they would take Afrin in 48 hours when the attack against the city started, but there has been a great resistance.”

Dicle pointed out that Afrin has been the only city in Syria that was not destroyed, and added: “This city was evacuated by the regime soldiers as soon as the Syrian war started. Then, as in other regions, a canton was declared there. Afrin is a tiny miniature of Syria. In terms of faith, the city is home to people of various faiths. Now they are trying to depopulate Afrin with intense attacks, their goal is to bring in groups from Idlib and disrupt the demographic makeup.”

The committee comprised of HDP MPs and academics, journalists and artists continue their meetings in Berlin.