The provincial co-chairs of Turkey’s pro-Kurdish opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) organised a meeting in Ankara. HDP co-chair Pervin Buldan spoke and shared her perspectives regarding the HDP’s role in the democratic struggle in Turkey.
After Buldan presented the opening address and press statements were issued, the meeting of the co-chairs continued in closed session.
“You have added power on top of our power as you embraced the democratic struggle with a decisive leading role in such a period, when being a member of the HDP means so much”, Buldan addressed the HDP’s provincial co-chairs. “To be an administrative member of the HDP is nothing like working for a system-linked party: it requires a strong commitment”, Buldan added as she saluted and acknowledged the significant work that had done by the provincial co-chairs of the party.
The HDP is ‘the party of hope’
Buldan recalled the revolutionary names Deniz Gezmiş, Mahir Çayan, İbrahim Kaypakkaya and Mazlum Doğan and stressed that the HDP carries their spirit with its freedom and democractic struggle.
“This is exactly what makes the HDP the party of hope, because each and every member of this struggle carries this spirit of leading revolutionaries who have always humbly taken part in the struggle. Our friends, taking administrative roles in our party, act with a consciousness and determination to become a hope for the people in the most hopeless of times, despite all the prohibitions and the oppression that has been imposed on us”, Buldan said.
‘The HDP is the founding power of a free life, of peace, of real justice’
Buldan clarified that the HDP is not just a party: it represents a set of thoughts shaped on the basis of equality and freedom. “All our provincial co-chairs, all of you, all of us struggle to emerge and develop these ideas into a huge plane tree. The HDP is the path we march through to achieve that. The HDP is the founding power of a free life, of peace, of real justice and of a strong democracy. I believe this march will end in victory, because the HDP leans on a tradition of struggle and resistance”, Buldan stated.
‘Women do not show any hesistation in the struggle’
Buldan pointed out that the women’s struggle in Turkey at present plays a leading role in the struggle against despotism and fascism. “We have seen on 8 March” – ‘International Women’s Day – “and on Newroz that women showed their strong stance and will as the leading power for change. Women showed society in Turkey that the women’s struggle is the power to defeat fascism and it is the power to liberate women”, Buldan said, adding: “Women do not show any signs of fear, but they show determination and strength. Women do not show any hesistation in the struggle. I salute all our women comrades and I salute, especially, our women comrades in prisons”.
Describing Turkey’s withdrawal from Istanbul Convention as a “coup-like practice”, she said: “They are always moving for new coups against the women and the youth. They think women will give up, but they can only dream of that, because women will raise the struggle more than ever to a higher level. Against the withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention, women have created a new convention of getting rid of the ruling power. And this is a convention that they cannot withdraw from, because we – as women – will not let them”.
‘This castle will not fall: the HDP stands strong as always’
Buldan also spoke about the ongoing case that seeks to permanently shut down the HDP. “The closure case is only their last attempt. We know their motivations very well. We know the motivations of the blockage against our party very well. They try to make the HDP dysfunctional: they try to break the power of the HDP to change the balance of politics and to determine new politics. The monopolist government attempts to shut down Turkey – not just the HDP – to establish an absolute fascism”, she pointed out.
“Closing the HDP will not prevent the HDP’s decisive role in politics. They were never able to break us, they were never able to destroy us and they will never be able to do so. This castle will not fall: the HDP stands strong as always”, she added.
‘We will enlarge and spread third way politics against the two blocks’
Buldan defined the “third way” as an “alternative ‘third way’ against the two blocks with state mentality”: “We will enlarge and spread ‘third way’ politics against the two blocks, which are the partisans of the state and we will form a democratic alliance to save the country from darkness. We believe our provincial co-chairs will conduct these works in their cities with great morale and energy.
“We know that you will knock on each door and hear every voice rising among the people. We know that you will stand by each poor citizen, each victim of the system. We will not let the Kurdish people and the peoples of Turkey remain in darkness. We will not allow lies to suffocate the truth. If there is tyranny, there is also the struggle of the oppressed people against it. We will show that our peoples have the HDP with them. We will either find a new way or open a new way or be the new way ourselves. This is the path of peace that we take. History shows that time is the time for the brave ones, not the cowards. This time is the HDP’s time”.
