‘You govern Turkey like an open prison’

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Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Spokesperson Ebru Günay held a press conference at the HDP headquarters today (November 20).

Addressing a series of current issues in her speech, Günay has slammed the recent operation against a group of lawyers as part of an investigation launched against the Democratic Society Congress (DTK).

"When you start using terms such as a law reform and justice, it is immediately followed by greater injustices," she has protested.

CLICK - 17 lawyers detained in house raids in Diyarbakır

Elaborating further on the DTK operation, Günay has said, "While these lawyers are frequenting the corridors of courthouses, following cases every day, every hour, while they are in a position to look the prosecutor who ordered their detention in the eye, what is the reason for not summoning them to depose, but raiding their houses in the middle of the night?"

Referring to the recent talks about judicial reform and justice, especially by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), Günay has added, "Stop deceiving society by talking about reform and justice. You are destroying justice and law. Immediately release the lawyers, whose job is to help the people aggrieved by injustice and to serve justice as an essential principle."

'Is that so?'

Slamming the ruling AKP and the allying Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) over "their wrong policies that have brought the country on the brink of an abyss, Günay has noted that "the deep and structural crisis caused by this government has become all the more apparent with the resignation of Berat Albayrak" from office as the Minister of Treasury and Finance.

Saying that "the AKP-MHP government has emptied out the state's treasury, has mobilized all means of the state to end the Kurdish question with violence and exposed the peoples of Turkey to an unprecedented fascism in the last five years", Ebru Günay has argued that the government's talks of reform are "nothing but their last stand."

"You have imprisoned every dissident, you are governing an entire country like an open prison," HDP Spokesperson has said and asked:

"When the times start to change, the economy collapses and society cries out 'Enough is enough, we cannot breathe', you say that it is time for reform in the law and democracy, is that so?

"You turn a blind eye to the hell in prisons, you play with the health of a country during pandemic, you do not take even a single measure against occupational homicides and feminicides, you hurl threats everyday arm in arm with the mafia and you had an openly racist murder end in impunity... Then, reform in economy and mobilization in law! Is that so?

"First, you have brought the country on the brink of a cliff, then, you are saying that it is time to change the cars to save yourself first, it is then you remember justice and law! Is that so?"

Concluding her remarks, Günay has said that "no one is eager to take the bitter recipe" and added, "This time, you and your supporters will take that recipe. This crisis is the crisis of the palace. It is the crisis of the AKP-MHP government and it will be neither ended nor solved with cosmetic changes. Society has had enough of these reform talks!" (DŞ/SD)