Yüksekdağ ve Demirtaş, BM Genel Sekreteri Ban Ki HDP Co-Presidents Figen Yüksekdağ and Selahattin Demirtaş sent a letter to UN Secretary Ban Ki Moon, who led the World Humanitarian Summit in İstanbul. The Co-Presidents called upon the UN to take a stance against grave human rights violations ordered by Erdoğan, and expressed their concern over the possible role of organizing the summit in İstanbul in covering up the human rights violations carried out by the Erdoğan regime.

The HDP emphasized Erdoğan’s destructive role in the escalation of the crisis in Syria, and said that Erdoğan’s regime is currently carrying out a witch-hunt after it ended the 2 years-long negotiations with the PKK. The Co-Presidents recalled the Turkish state’s prosecution of 1128 academics that signed a petition against the on-going war, and said that the Erdoğan regime has been targeting political institutions, non-governmental organizations, media outlets, universities and businesses during its construction of the ‘New Turkey’ where every opposition group is either silenced or prosecuted.

HDP recalled the use of ‘treason’ and ‘espionage’ charges as tools of oppression as in the case of the Turkish Intelligence trucks, and called upon international actors to take a stance against Erdoğan and the AKP.

CURFEWS AND OCCUPATION

HDP Co-Presidents stated that Turkey violated international treaties with its curfews, massacres and occupation in North Kurdistan, and noted that continuous curfews in 7 cities and 22 districts, which are HDP strongholds, affected the lives of 1 million and 700 thousand people and claimed the lives of hundreds of civilians. The HDP recalled the UN Committee Against Torture’s report released on May 13, 2016, and emphasized that systematic torture, extrajudicial executions, uneven violence, arbitrary arrests and the violation of the right to private property have been common practices in North Kurdistan. The HDP criticized the state forces’ murder of at least 550 civilians, expulsion of at least 350 thousand civilians, and the destruction Sur, Cizre, Nusaybin and Silopi districts since last year.

POLITICAL GENOCIDE OPERATIONS AND MASSACRES

The HDP criticized the on-going political genocide operations in which 57 co-mayors and city council members were imprisoned, and 28 co-mayors and 24 city assembly members got relieved from their duties. The Co-Presidents emphasized that the most traumatic results of the Turkish state’s attacks could be found in Cizre, where at least 30 thousand people migrated from the city and more than 200 people got burnt alive in the basements they were trapped by state forces.

HDP Co-Presidents recalled the AKP’s refugee policies in Maraş, and said that the state was building camps for jihadist militants near Alevi villages and towns with the support of the EU. The HDP called upon international actors to take a stance against Erdoğan’s sectarian and polarizing policies, and emphasized that democratic autonomy was the only perspective to prevent humanitarian crises from happening in the region.