Pervin Buldan, the co-chair of the pro-Kurdish opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) spoke on Medya Haber TV on Tuesday. She said that the overwhelming participation in recent Newroz celebrations in Turkey was a clear gesture of the people of their support for their jailed political representatives and an expression of their political will.

Noting that the state authorities did everything in their capacity to prevent people from joining in the celebrations, she said that this tactic didn’t work due to the determination of the people.

“The people came despite the cold, the obstruction attempts by the police, the countless body searches in check points. While the celebrations were supposed to begin at 11 AM in Amed, they could begin at 2:30 PM.”

She continued:

“In spite of all these, the people came in large crowds to the celebration areas. They came even in freezing cold and under heavy snow in the city of Van. People are enraged by the incarceration of politicians, by the severe isolation imposed upon Mr. Öcalan in İmralı Island. There has been no contact with him for a year now, and he’s not allowed visits neither from his family nor his lawyers. All these have led people to send a message that they are standing by their political party and their own political will. They rushed to the celebration areas to actually send their message to Ankara.”

Buldan underlined that the resolution of the Kurdish question was key to dealing with the crisis Turkey has been facing.

She said:

“We are telling this not only to the ruling party, but also to opposition parties: Everybody should recognise that none of the crisis that Turkey is currently going through can be ended without a democratic resolution of this question.”