The Communist Party of France (PCF) stated that the prison sentence handed out to DTK co-chair Leyla Güven is unacceptable and demanded "the release of all political prisoners".

In a written statement, the PCF reminded that "DTK co-chair Leyla Güven had gone on hunger strike for months in 2018 to protest the conditions of detention of Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan."

The PCF said Güven is "a peace woman, a human rights defender" and added: "Recep Tayyip Erdogan's hatred means he won’t stop persecuting all elected HDP representatives and all democrats in Turkey.”

Reminding that they had conveyed their direct and unwavering solidarity to the HDP before, PCF once again reiterated this solidarity and said: "The PCF condemns this new attack on the peoples of Turkey, the Kurds and their democratically elected representatives.”

The statement continued: "The PCF calls all forces to mobilize and step up their solidarity with the peoples of Turkey, supporting their demand for the release of all political prisoners.

France should condemn and sanction the Ankara regime both in Turkey and France and support democratic forces that struggle to #stoperdogan!"