The 4th Ordinary Congress of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) is being held in Ankara to elect the co-chairs and central party officials of the HDP.
At the beginning of the congress our co-chair Sezai Temelli and Pervin Buldan made speeches. Mr Temelli and Ms Buldan briefly said following:
With full awareness of the responsibility given by our honorable duty since February 11 2018, we have put up a struggle against an authoritarian government, which launched an operation to crush the Kurds. I would like to thank all the provincial and district organizations with which we have marched on together in this struggle.
Capitalism, which is a system of injustice, inequality and exploitation, is in a great crisis today. Authoritarian leaders are imposing war everywhere to overcome this crisis. The Middle East is at the center of this war. These oppressors want to strangle humanity in the cradle of humanity. With the gangs in their command, they impose the Third World War on the people in the form of death, suffering and poverty.
People all over the world are now resisting these colonialist attacks. Workers, peasants, youth and women are at the forefront of this resistance. The Rojava Women's Revolution is fighting for humanity against the ISIS gang.
Now it is time for politics to return to the neighbourhoods, to its roots. And that is what I will be doing, too. Although our path is long and challenging, our resistance is young. Although our path is full of obstacles, our belief is strong. With these sentiments, I greet each and every one of you. Even though saying farewell is always sad, it also keeps the enthusiasm of new beginnings in its heart.
Co-chair Pervin Buldan said breifly following:
On the eve of the change that will take place in Turkey and the Middle East, we hold our congress with great assertion and determination in our struggle. Of course, we have not arrived here easily. We have resisted! Thousands of our friends have been taken hostage, but we have become millions!
When it comes to Kurds, when it comes to the opposition or the democrats, all ruling forces come together with their unlawful structures. But there is something that they cannot see: There is an alliance of the oppressed peoples in front of them: Cizre has an alliance within Gezi! Istanbul and Diyarbakir have an alliance with İzmir and Hakkari!
On this side of the border, while people commit suicide because of hunger, poverty, on the other side of the border the children of the poor people die one by one in the war. This is the regime they deem appropriate for the people: unemployment, hunger, poverty, death. They turned this land, where we could live with peace, into the land of death.
They invaded Northern Syria and Afrin to prevent Syrian peace and Kurdish democratic representation in Syria. And as they plundered and invaded Syrian territory with tanks, on this side of the border, they invaded the municipalities with their trustees. They have seized 38 municipalities from us. All they know is political theft. They say, "Kurds cannot choose, Kurds cannot rule." But whatever they do; Kurds will continue to vote for their own representatives and rule their own cities! And not just the municipalities, we are determined to govern this country and we are coming!
23 February 2020