HDP lawmakers stay awake at parliament in solidarity with their jailed
“It is the responsibility of this country to let Leyla [Guven] and all our friends to live,” Pervin Buldan, party co-chair, said on Tuesday in Ankara, referring to their MP who has just been released from jail but is 90 days into a hunger strike.
HDP has also launched #1MevsimDireni? (One Season Resistance) hashtag as a reference to 90 days of hunger strike by Guven.
The aim of the strikes is to “bring democracy, peace and freedom to this country,” said Sezai Temelli, co-chair of the party, in a video during his protest.
There are more than 300 people on hunger strike in Turkey and other countries, added Temelli, calling on people to show solidarity.
Buldan added that if everyone joins forces “we will surely break the isolation.”
Ayse Acar Basaran, a HDP lawmaker, tweeted that the name of the vigilance is “Justice, Democracy and Peace Vigilance.”
Dozens of HDP MPs and officials are in jail or facing charges related to ties to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), as are hundreds of party members and thousands of their supporters.
Seven Kurdish parties are joining the pro-Kurdish HDP in an alliance for the municipal and parliamentary elections in Turkey set for March 31.
