HDP Co-Chair Buldan, HDP MP Önder Under Investigation Over HDP Congress

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Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office has launched an investigation against the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Co-Chair Pervin Buldan and Istanbul MP Sırrı Süreyya Önder.

A featured poster of Kurdistan Workers' Party' (PKK) imprisoned leader Abdullah Öcalan and statements made about Turkey’s Afrin operation in HDP’s congress yesterday (February 11) were cited as reasons for the investigation for “terrorist organization propaganda, provoking the public to hatred and hostility, and promoting crime and criminals” in the official statement issued to news agencies.

What did Buldan and Önder say?

Buldan had been elected party co-chair in the congress and made the following statements:

Buldan: The solution lies in peace, not war

“The economic crisis is worsening. Bombs thrown at Afrin fall on the livelihoods of the peoples of Turkey. The public is made to bear the cost of this war.

“The strike of metal workers who want to stand up for their economic and social rights is banned in the name of national security. The media is silenced and kept from reporting the truth.

“If we don’t put an end to this, our country will quickly find itself on the verge of a precipice. We call on the government once again to put an end to these policies while there is still time, before the country suffers any more than it already has.

“The solution lies in peace, not war. Today, the HDP is the only party that supports peace. We are up against the nationalist bloc that sides with policies of war. HDP and its constituents are the only power that opposes war, they are Turkey’s democratic powers.”

Önder: Belief in democracy, longing for peace

Elected the chair of the congress council, Istanbul MP Sırrı Süreyya Önder had also spoken at the congress, remarking on the fact that 32,000 people had filled up the congress hall despite detention operations against HDP:

“As of this moment, the number of our guests, attendees, comrades in this hall and outside has reached 32,000. In spite of all sorts of obstacles, these buses were searched and had to pass checkpoints all over the country, and a few things were found in them: belief in democracy, longing for peace, and the will of freedom.” (BK/PU)