France Left Party and umbrella party La France Insoumise (“Unbowing France”) Coordination member Danielle Simonnet who visited Turkey to attend Leyla Guven’s hearing on Thursday spoke to the ANF.

Simonnet started with saying that there is no democracy in Turkey and added that this was not her first time in the country, that she visited before during election processes and carried out research.

Simonnet recalled that HDP Co-chair Selahattin Demirtas was forced to run his election campaign while imprisoned during his bid for the Presidential election and added: “One cannot speak of democracy in such a situation. Leyla Guven was in prison for over a year as well, despite having been elected to the parliament. She was released yesterday, but she continues her hunger strike because her demands still haven’t been met. Leyla Guven didn’t have any demands for herself. Her biggest demand is that the isolation imposed upon Abdullah Ocalan end. But unfortunately the isolation continues still. That is why we cannot speak of a democracy in Turkey, and that is a shame.”

“WE MET WITH MACRON TO END THE ISOLATION”

Simonnet said they met with other parties in France to end the isolation against Kurdish People’s Leader Ocalan and the lifting of the PKK ban, and continued:

“Most recently we had a meeting with (French President) Macron. We said he should be pressuring Turkey to end the isolation and engage with Erdogan to that end. And our party has submitted a proposal to the European Parliament to remove the PKK from the list of terrorist organizations.

I take photographs of Leyla Guven everywhere I go to draw attention to her protest. We have spoken about her protest on French televisions from the first day on, thus attempting to break the silence in the French media. HDP officials and Kurdish institutions in France inform our party constantly of the developments. Our party visited the Strasbourg activists. I salute the struggle and resistance of the Kurdish people with all my heart”

THE INVASION IS UNACCEPTABLE

Simonnet also spoke about Turkey’s threats of invasion against Rojava and said Erdogan is preparing for a new invasion operation.

Simonnet stressed that the only democratic and free region in Syria is Rojava: “The only force fighting against ISIS is the Kurds. We are against all occupations, and the invasion of Rojava is unacceptable. Because of this, I support the Kurds and the PYD to the end.”

The French politician pointed out that Erdogan constantly says he is against ISIS but is in fact in a strong collaboration with ISIS against Kurds, and concluded with: “We do not believe Erdogan’s statements at all. We are against those who use Islam as a tool to further their own agenda, not Islam itself.”