Following the renewed political coup in Turkey, former members of parliament and mayors of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) - many of them in exile - have written an open letter calling for "serious and effective solidarity" with the entire democratic opposition, especially with the HDP. Appeasement policies, looking the other way, and verbal lip service are detrimental to democracy and benefit dictatorships, according to the letter published by the HDP German representation which reads as follows:

Renewed antidemocratic aggression against the HDP

With a new wave of arrests of 82 democratically legitimate representatives of the HDP, the ultra-nationalist AKP/MHP government is attempting to consolidate its antidemocratic hegemony.

This time, the detainees include several former members of parliament, current board members and mayors.

Since its inception, the HDP has grown to become a central and indispensable figure in the democratic opposition and can determine who will form the government in the next elections. It is the greatest threat to the authoritarian-totalitarian Erdogan regime.

For this reason, Erdogan is trying with all his might to criminalize and marginalize the HDP. The HDP, which has members from all religious and ethnic social groups in parliament, upholds democratic pluralism, has an emancipative tradition, and is a thorn in the side of Erdogan's worldview and understanding of democracy.

The pretext advanced today that the HDP called for violent protests six years ago does not correspond to reality.

Six years ago, the barbaric ISIS members brutally murdered Kurds and other ethnic groups in the Middle East, including in the city of Kobane in northern Syria, near the Turkish border.

At the time, the HDP had called on the population to exercise its democratic right to peaceful protest against the atrocities of the ISIS. Starting in 2016, some members of the HDP's executive board were charged in this regard and later acquitted because the call was not an offence.

Despite their acquittal at the time, all these and many other party officials are now being arrested again on the same grounds as they were then, in defiance of national and international law and in front of the entire democratic, Western world. For us, the undersigned, the extremely moderate reaction of democratic and international governments, institutions and administrations against such actions, which systematically aim to undermine democracy, is incomprehensible and irritating.

Appeasement politics, looking the other way and verbal lip service damage democracy and benefit dictatorships.

We demand serious and effective solidarity with the entire democratic opposition in Turkey, especially with the HDP!

Representation of the Peoples’ Democratic Party in Germany

Signatories:

Ahmet Yıldırım (former Member of parliament)

Ali Atalan (former member of parliament)

Bedia Özgökçe Ertan (former mayor of Van)

Besime Konca (former member of parliament)

Demir Çelik (former member of parliament)

Dilek Öcalan (former member of parliament)

Ertuğrul Kürkçü (former member of parliament and honorary chairman of the HDP)

Faysal Sarıyıldız (former member of parliament & co-chair of HDP-Germany)

Hasip Kaplan (former member of parliament)

Hatip Dicle (former member of parliament)

Kemal Aktaş (former member of parliament)

Leyla Birlik (former member of parliament)

Leyla Imret (former mayor of Cizre & co-chair of HDP-Germany)

Lezgin Botan (former member of parliament)

Mehmet Emin Adıyaman (former member of parliament)

Nursel Aydoğan (former member of parliament)

Osman Baydemir (former member of parliament)

Saadet Becerekli (former member of parliament)

Selim Sadak (former member of parliament)

Sibel Yiğitalp (former member of parliament)

Tuğba Hezer (former member of parliament)