The representatives of the HDP will hold meetings and give lectures in Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, and Chile, to inform the people of the situation in Turkey and the work they do in defense of human rights and ethnic minorities in the country.
Kurdish deputy Ebru Günay and deputy Garo Paylan, of Armenian origin, both representatives of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), will visit Latin America from August 11 to 24, in order to meet with leaders political, union and social of the continent.
The representatives of the HDP will hold meetings and give lectures in Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, and Chile, to inform the people of the situation in Turkey and the work they do in defense of human rights and ethnic minorities in the country.
During the visit, Günay and Paylan will also meet with groups that stand in solidarity with the defense of democracy in Turkey and the struggle of the Kurdish people.
Ebru Günay is a lawyer and defender of human and women's rights. She was arrested in 2009 while serving as the legal representative of Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan. After five years in prison, she was released in 2014. In the elections of June 24, 2018, she was elected as a deputy in the National Assembly by the province of Mardin.
Garo Paylan is a founding member of the HDP and is currently a deputy, for the second time in a row, representing the province of Diyarbakir. In the National Assembly, it is part of the Economic Commission. Bachelor of Economics, was born in 1972 in the city of Malatya, in an Armenian family. Paylan has actively worked for the Armenian community of Turkey and in the administration of Armenian schools in the city of Istanbul. His trajectory highlights in the promotion of bilingual education, as well as raising awareness about discrimination and Armenian-Turkish reconciliation. In addition, he actively participated in the clarification of the murder of the Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, committed in 2007 at the hands of a Turkish ultra-nationalist.
The Peoples' Democratic Party was founded on October 15, 2012 and brings together the Kurdish movement, ethnic minorities, progressive organizations, LGBT groups and in defense of the environment.
The HDP, which is the third political force in Turkey, has a system of co-presidencies, and advocates for a comprehensive peace agreement in the country, while defending the inclusion of minorities in all institutional, political spheres and social life, and religious respect among Muslims, Christians, Alevíes, and Yezidíes, among others.
