The HDP held a rally in Amed on Saturday with the slogan "We are the solution, no to war and exploitation". Tens of thousands of people travelled from different cities to attend the rally, which saw provocations by police.
A large rally took place in Amed on Saturday, organised by the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) with the slogan "We are the solution, no to war and exploitation". Tens of thousands of people from the province and surrounding towns gathered in Station square in the late afternoon. What followed was a demonstration of will. After a minute's silence in memory of those who died in the Kurdish liberation struggle, the resistance song "Çerxa Şoreşê" (The Wheel of Revolution) resounded in the square. The youth movement section was particularly loud.
The police, who had already tried some provocations, tried to cut the power connection to the audio system, but did not succeed. HDP MP Ömer Öcalan accused the police of deliberately trying to damage the atmosphere and asked them to leave the stage immediately. Meanwhile, officers attempted to confiscate a banner portraying imprisoned politician Aysel Tuğluk. A group of HDP women activists managed to secure the banner.
After discussions between the HDP leadership and the police, the actual stage program could start. The opening speech was given by Mehmet Şirin Şehir from the Organizing Committee. Şehir described the current phase in Turkey as the "most crisis-ridden time" ever. He said: “We are the solution to the crises in the country.”
The head of the HDP Amed, Gülistan Atasoy, said that the large number of participants in the rally was a “clear statement” that the regime’s “total war” with its political and physical annihilation operations and systematic repression against Kurdish society and the democratic public cannot be won. "Amed is once again making history and teaching a powerful lesson to those who see war, misogyny and isolation as a means of securing their existence," she said.
Other speakers announced include HDP chairman Mithat Sancar, DBP chair Saliha Aydeniz, Berdan Öztürk from the grassroots alliance Democratic Society Congress (DTK), representatives of the women’s movement TJA and the Rosa Women’s association, as well as representatives of various civil society organizations. Another major HDP rally with the same slogan, "We are the solution, no to war and exploitation" will take place in Istanbul today.
