Europe-wide protests after wave of arrests against ESP

There have been protests in Germany, France and Switzerland in protest at the arrest operation against members of the Socialist Party of the Oppressed (ESP) in Turkey.

The wave of repression against the Socialist Party of the Oppressed (ESP) in Turkey is also triggering protests in Europe. On Tuesday, fourteen activists from the left-wing party were arrested in nationwide raids. Among them are the former ESP leader Çiçek Otlu, who is currently sitting in the executive council of the party and who was released only last September after two years in custody, and Sedat Şenoğlu, member of the ESP party council and co-spokesperson of the Peoples’ Democratic Congress (HDK). Three more persons are still being searched for. Meanwhile, it is not clear what the charges against the persons concerned are.

Germany-wide actions in solidarity with ESP

In several German cities, including Berlin, Hamburg, Duisburg, Cologne, Stuttgart and Frankfurt am Main, many people took to the streets yesterday to express their solidarity with ESP. Leftist organizations such as Young Struggle, SKB and Agif, ADHK, ATIK, Communist Reconstruction and the Proletarian Youth of Hamburg and the Democratic Kurdish Community Centers had called for the actions.

Baki Selçuk, co-chair of AvEG-Kon (Confederation of Oppressed Migrants in Europe), said in Berlin: "ESP is fighting for a dignified future of the youth and against the invasion in Rojava, the invasion attacks on Southern Kurdistan and the persecution in Northern Kurdistan. However, as in the past, these attacks and arrests will not silence the socialists.”

Another representative of AvEG-KON said: "We will overcome this aggression, strengthen the common struggle and put fascism on the garbage heaps of history.”

Protest in Lausanne

In Lausanne, too, leftists from Turkey and Kurdistan and people in solidarity took to the streets against the repression of Turkey’s AKP/MHP regime. The co-chair of the Federation of Migrant Workers in Turkey (AGIF), Ali Orak, told ANF: "The aggression of Turkish fascism knows no borders. While, on the one hand, its attacks on the Kurdish people continue, now socialists and revolutionaries are also being targeted with raids, arrests and detentions. We know that no socialist, no revolutionary has given in and we will continue our struggle with the same determination today. Wherever we may be in the world, we will continue to fight for peace, freedom and justice. Repression cannot shake us.

Paris: "Freedom for those arrested"

The leftist associations ACTIT (Cultural Association of Migrant Workers from Turkey) and the Socialist Women's Federation (SKB) promoted protests in Paris. They demanded the release of the prisoners on banners and expressed their solidarity with ESP. A representative of SKB said: "While the women's protests against the Turkish government's attempts to annul the Istanbul Convention against Violence against Women continue, socialist women are targeted by the regime. This attack is about stopping the women's struggle. But the revolutionary socialists have already made many sacrifices for their struggle for free life and will continue and expand it with great determination.”