Helsingborg Municipality Left Party Group President Inger Mattiasson Sardinen and Norrköping Municipality Left Party City Councilor Nicklas Lundström sent a message of solidarity to the dismissed HDP mayors through their social media accounts.

Reminding that Kurds live under severe pressure in Turkey where there ara at least 400 HDP members in prison and that the democratically and freely elected mayors of Amed, Van and Mardin were dismissed by the AKP government on 19 August, Helsingborg Municipality Left Party Group President Inger Mattiasson Sardinen said: “This is unacceptable." 

Sardinen stressed that the Western world should put more political and economic pressure on Erdoğan and his government. He urged the Swedish Government to take action against the seizure of democracy and the rights of the Kurdish people.

This is not democracy

Norrköping Municipality Left Party City Councilor Nicklas Lundström recalled that the Erdoğan regime waged a war against the Kurds, destroyed cities, threw thousands of Kurds into prisons and dismissed tens of thousands of people from their jobs.

Lundström added: “Erdoğan is destroying democracy in his country. The HDP is the country's 3rd largest party. It won many municipalities in Kurdistan, but Erdoğan did not tolerate this. He dismissed the co-mayors of three of the cities, replacing them with men loyal to him. A country that does these things is no longer a democracy."

Recalling that the people of Amed, Mardin and Van do not accept what happened and are protesting on the streets every day, Lundström said that they were in solidarity with the resisting people and the mayors who were dismissed.