HDP MYK member Sultan Özcan said that after the Labor and Freedom Alliance was presented to the public on 24 September, they would come together with all social segments to build a democratic republic.

Sultan Özcan, Co-spokesperson of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Committee on Relations with civil society organisations and political parties, spoke to ANF about the Labor and Freedom Alliance. Özcan underlined that this is very different from other alliances. “This new alliance brings together all areas of victimization, areas of denial, those rights have been usurped, and even beyond that, it brings the voice of that silence. The Labor and Freedom Alliance is a pluralistic alliance against racism, militarism and sexism.”

Fighting together

Özcan talked about the work to be done after the joint text announced by the Labor and Freedom Alliance on 24 September in Istanbul. “We want to build a new Democratic Republic; we want to get rid of this mentality of war. We are not a movement on paper. We are already fighting together on the streets. We are already a community of movements struggling against the massacre of women, the ignorance of women's labor and identity, the recognition of the rights of the Kurdish people within the framework of constitutional citizenship, within the framework of local democracy, in a free, non-conflict and non-violent environment with the peoples of Turkey. We share our struggle; the election is a part of it. We are aware of the importance of the election, of its strategic meaning, and it gives us such a responsibility in society. We will unite in power, action and imagination in the construction of democracy.”

Özcan said that the new alliance draws its strength from its past experience of struggle and added: “We have a great legacy. As we resisted yesterday, we will resist today."