The People’s Democratic Party’s (HDP) congress in Turkey’s capital of Ankara was held on Sunday with a massive participation.
Welcoming all in Kurdish and Turkish, HDP Co-Chair Mithat Sancar said they represented the ‘wider Ankara’ of the working people, and of people of different religions and beliefs, as opposed to the ‘Ankara of the Palace’, reported by Mezopotamya News Agency.
Sancar stated that they were trying to make the democracy alliance a real alternative for the people. He said:
“We know that no government which stayed in power for 20 years will be willing to leave. They have a long record of offences that they are afraid of [the legal consequences]. We can only win by offering people real alternatives.”
He continued:
“The election is only on one day; the struggle is every day. Therefore we are saying that we are establishing the democracy alliance based on a common struggle. We will construct the election alliance on such a foundation. Because the elections can only be successful if it is integrated as part of a struggle waged every day.” “Therefore we say it is now time for HDP. It is time for the Democracy Alliance to be built in Turkey with the efforts of HDP, lead by HDP. Now is the time for the third alternative.”
“We will unite struggles for bread and freedom”
“Where does this alternative road lead to? An order which is just the opposite of that of this government. This road leads to a democratic and social republic. When there is such widespread poverty and hunger in the whole of the country, our only alternative is a struggle for social justice, for our labour and for an equal life. We therefore have to unite the struggle for bread and the struggle for freedom. There is no bread without freedom and no freedom without bread.”
“We owe the people peace”
“Bread, freedom, social justice and democracy; the name of what we will be building based on all these concepts is the great peace. There are millions in this country that we owe this peace to… We owe to people from all parts of the society who have lost their lives in the ongoing conflicts in this country for past 40 years. A democratic solution and great peace, this is our promise, this is what we owe the people… Therefore it is now time for HDP, the time for building this great peace and a strong democracy… It is for this reason that the government is afraid… They are afraid of you; they are afraid of HDP. They are afraid of what is coming.”
