SPD: Leyla Güven and other elected politicians must be released

A delegation of the German representation of the HDP met with representatives of the Bundestag faction of the SPD. The foreign policy spokesman Nils Schmid called for the immediate release of Leyla Güven.

A delegation of former members of parliament and the German representation of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) has held talks with representatives of various factions in the German Parliament (Bundestag). The meetings focused on the hunger strike of imprisoned HDP MP Leyla Güven, who is on the 72nd day of her fast, demanding an end to the isolation regime on Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan.

The delegation included former HDP MPs Ziya Pir, Faysal Sarıyıldız and Sibel Yiğitalp, as well as Sinan Önal and Muhammet Kaya from the party's Germany representation. After a meeting with the Bündnis90 / DIE GRÜNEN group, the delegation met with MPs of the ruling Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD).

The delegation met the foreign policy spokesman of the SPD faction, Nils Schmid, and the deputy chairman of the German-Turkish parliamentary friendship group, Uli Grötsch. The HDP expressed its concerns about the current developments in Turkey, the worsening health of Leyla Güven and her demand to lift Öcalan's isolation, and called on the federal government to act against isolation.

The SPD suggested starting another “twin deputy” campaign like they did at the end of 2016, following the arrest of former HDP leader Selahattin Demirtaş. The SPD officials said they ar following Leyla Güven's situation closely, and Foreign Minister Heiko Maas has also mentioned the situation of the Kurdish politician with concerned authorities.

Afterwards Schmid gave ANF a short interview and explained that especially Güven and the other elected representatives must be released immediately.

“I hope Turkey will thus comply with international law by releasing the elected representatives of people from prison,” he added.