Marie Sørhaug, Responsible for international affairs, Bjørnar Moxnes, leader of The Red Party and MP,  Seher Aydar, deputy representative of the Red Party, Norway, issued a statement to condemn the attempts to ban the HDP. 

The statement reads as follows: "Even though HDP is the third largest party in Turkey, Erdogan's machinery of power will set aside the will of the people and has started a process to shut down the HDP to make the party illegal. Ever since they reached the high electoral threshold of 10% HDP has been under massive attacks. Several elected representatives from HDP are already in prison. Elected mayors in Kurdish areas have been ousted and replaced by people appointed by Erdogan's government. Thousands of HDP activists and politicians have been arrested and many are now political prisoners. The closure of political parties, especially pro-Kurdish parties, is not new phenomena in Turkey. Since the 1990s, 6 pro-Kurdish parties have been banned and closed. Now the time has come for HDP.

Erdogan and his coalition of religious fundamentalists and ultranationalists have destroyed the already weak democratic institutions. Basic legal principles are undermined:

• In Norway several legal organizations have stated in a joint statement that Turkey can no longer be considered a real state based on the rule of law.
• Government-critical media are closed and journalists are imprisoned. This is what Reporters Without Borders says about the state of freedom of expression in Turkey: "Criticizing the authorities, being employed in a 'suspicious' media house, contacting a sensitive source or even just using encrypted messaging services is the basis for imprisoning journalists for terrorism in Turkey".

As the regime also controls most of the information that comes out of Turkey it is important that the international community closely follows what is happening there.

Now the Turkish state will ban the HDP and deprive hundreds of their politicians of the right to be elected or to engage in politics. Regardless of what one thinks of the HDP's political project all those concerned with democracy and peace should protest the closure of the HDP.

The HDP made a clear call of action for all of us: 'The oppression of the government on the HDP and other democratic forces will surely intensify in the months ahead, and so will our struggle. We hereby invite once again the international democratic community to take a principled stance, further strengthen international solidarity, and act against these pitiful political moves by the AKP government to ban the HDP and deny the will of millions of people.'

Erdogan's repression of the Kurds and the opposition in Turkey is completely unacceptable. Minister of Foreign Affairs Søreide must follow the example of her Swedish colleague in condemning Turkey's treatment of the HDP and the attacks on democracy."