HDP co-chair Pervin Buldan spoke at her party's parliamentary group meeting in Ankara on current issues and the connection between the poverty of the population in Turkey and the Erdogan government's wars of aggression in neighbouring countries.

“Turkey is at a crossroads. All social groups are increasingly demanding changes in order to free themselves from a crisis system that does not produce any solutions for the existing economic, social and legal problems. Voices can be heard everywhere saying: enough is enough! These voices scare the government. In order not to lose her power and to maintain her order, which consists of profit and corruption, she becomes more and more aggressive. We are dealing with a government that uses all kinds of conflict and crisis mechanisms to stay in power: from judicial conspiracies to political putsch operations, from a policy of polarization to aggressive wars in neighbouring countries.”

The judiciary launched a campaign against people who showed solidarity with Kobanê at the time of the ISIS attack and against those who lodged a collective objection to the existing system during the Gezi uprising. The government is at war in the streets against women, youth and workers and in politics against the HDP and all democratic forces. War is also being waged against nature, according to the co-chair of the HDP.

Gezi trial: Solidarity with Osman Kavala

Regarding the verdict in the Gezi trial, Buldan said that the procedure was reopened after the acquittals were passed through political influence on the judiciary: "Dear Osman Kavala was sentenced to life imprisonment, dear Mücella Yapıcı and six other friends to 18 years each. I send my greetings to all of them and express my solidarity: you are not alone in your fight for justice, the democratic conscience of Turkey is on your side. Therefore, the judgments made in these courts are not legal judgments but political decisions.”

War to keep the government in power

According to Buldan, another pillar of the government's struggle to stay in power is the wars of aggression in Turkey's neighbouring countries. "The government says to Ukraine that nobody can win a war. At the same time, it launched a cross-border wave of attacks in the Federal Region of Kurdistan with imperialist objectives. Invading other countries in defiance of international law means expansionism and a policy of war. The government thrives on constant crises and conflicts and exports wars to Iraq, Syria and the Middle East in order to further destabilize the region and to deprive the population, especially the Kurdish people, of the opportunity for peaceful coexistence. As always, the people have to pay the price for this policy. This policy will further deepen the Kurdish question and drive it into a hopeless situation.”

Buldan added that “the AKP leader [Erdogan] said last week that the HDP is the only party uncomfortable with the military operation. These words show the position of the political opposition, which has no objection to the war policy. I would like to say this at this point: as a government, you may be comfortable with the situation, but we certainly feel a great deal of uneasiness about your war policy. It's not just us, we hear the same from the population. You may be relaxed, but we feel great sadness at the dead bodies of young people. It bothers us that you are destroying the peace of the peoples in the region and that society has to pay for it with increasing poverty. And you disturb our peace policy. We see and know that, but we will not give them up. We will always position ourselves against war and for peace, and we will continue to make you uncomfortable.”

According to Pervin Buldan, Turkey's war spending has increased six-fold since 2015. At the same time, the average income has fallen. Every bullet and bomb fired means that people in Turkey have less money in their pockets.