HDP Co-Chair Sezai Temelli spoke at his party's Sancaktepe District Congress in Istanbul.

“We have the duty to strengthen our struggle. - said Temelli - Today, we have a name for the enemy we are fighting: fascism. We decided to get side by side and destroy this fascism in the end. By inviting everyone to fight, we will surely destroy fascism.”

The HDP co-chair continued: “On the way to the June 24 elections, we were saying, ‘We will win’ and we won, we destroyed it, and now our struggle continues to secure the return home of all our comrades who have been displaced, to secure peace in this country.”

Supporting Leyla Güven

Temelli referred then to HDP Hakkari deputy, Leyla Güven, who has been on hunger strike for 32 days. “Leyla - he said - is leading us. Everyone who respects this show of will and the path Leyla has opened in front of us, will stand beside her. It is time to see Leyla Güven and hear her voice. 32 days she left behind, but a large part of the public is ignoring Leyla Güven. This parliament ignores Leyla Güven, and acts as if Leyla Güven is not there. But she is here, she has a voice, she has a will. You will hear the sound of her voice in the end, because Leyla Güven's voice is the voice of truth. It is the voice against fascism, oppression, repression and war.”

Temelli said that “whoever raises this voice, siding with peace, democracy, common will is being attacked by the Erdoğan regime, by the State. Just like Sırrı Süreyya Önder, who has worked for peace and democracy, took responsibility for this work and fulfilled his role well. Sırrı Süreyya Önder went to prison. It was not for a punishment, but for his love of peace that he was attacked by this State.”

Temelli recalled that “thousands of our friends were imprisoned, thousands of our friends forced to leave their country. These friends wanted peace, asked for democracy. Let us have a democratic republic in our common motherland.”

But this State, said Temelli, “does not want peace, does not want democracy. It wants war. This State wants to move on with a power fed on hostility towards Kurds. But we say this will soon end. Because we have a strong will, a strong organization. We have a strong idea behind all of this. We have an idea that brings us together in the framework of a radical democracy that calls upon us to live together in the framework of a democratic nation.”

Need to end isolation

Temelli then insisted on the need to end the isolation regime imposed on Öcalan in Imrali.

“If this isolation does not come to an end, - said Temelli - this country will be dragged into disaster, dragged into collapse and will continue to fall.”

Speaking about the next local elections, scheduled for 31 March 2019, Temelli said: “Now is not the time to do politics over the differences between us. Now it is time to take power from our differences and carry out a common struggle against this power of oppression.”

Temelli recalled that the State appointed trustees on 96 of the 102 municipalities won by the HDP at the previous elections, jailing most of the democratically and freely elected mayors. “We will get them back - said Temelli - we will get more municipalities than before.”

These elections will be the end of fascism

These elections, said Temelli, will be the victory of democracy and the end of fascism.

“Our friends will be free, the isolation will be broken. Figen Yüksekdağ, Selahattin Demirtaş, Sebahat Tuncel, Gültan Kışanak and all our friends will be released. After 31 March, the struggle for democracy and peace in this country will go even more decisively.”

Temelli ended his speech by saying: “We're at a very important threshold in history. We all have a big responsibility. As part of this responsibility, we will do our part not only to achieve success in elections, but to achieve a real transformation. We’ll never lose hope.”