Keskin Bayındır, Co-Chair of Democratic Regions Party, arrested in governments latest crackdown

Statement by our Foreign Affairs Spokespersons Feleknas Uca and Hişyar Özsoy:

On 23 December 2022, police raided the headquarters of the DBP in Ankara, its information office in Diyarbakır, and its offices in many other Kurdish provinces. During the raids, the party's record books and many other documents were confiscated. After the raids, 15 party members and executives, including DBP Co-Chair Mr. Keskin Bayındır were detained. After a four-day detention period, Co-chair Bayindir and the co-chair of DBP’s office in Diyarbakir Mr Hayrettin Altun were arrested and sent to prison.

This political operation against the DBP, which is the major constituent of the HDP, should be taken as another preparatory step in the anti-democratic election campaign of the AKP-MHP government. It is clear that the election strategy of the AKP-MHP government is based on war-oriented politics, repressing the opposition, silencing free media, and spreading violence across society.

Increasing repression of the government on the Kurdish democratic opposition, which seems to have the kingmaker role in the upcoming elections, only shows how desperate and hopeless the government is.

Keskin Bayındır had previously worked as a schoolteacher and trade unionist until he was unlawfully expelled from his job with an emergency rule government decree in 2016. In 2018 and 2019, he served as a member of the HDP’s party assembly. Since November 2019, he has been serving as the co-chair of DBP. He is now a part of the struggle for justice, democracy, and freedom fought across Turkish prisons.

Feleknas Uca & Hişyar Özsoy
HDP’s Co-spokespersons for Foreign Affairs
28 December 2022