Mr. Ahmet Turk, 74 years old, was arrested on November 24 and transferred to Silivri Prison.
Right before his arrest, Mr. Turk made the following statement: “What difference does it make that I am in prison or not? But how will this bloodshed end? How will this issue reach a resolution? This is the question. For peace, we have shouldered responsibility with our body and our soul. We had faced unimaginable tortures in Diyarbakır Prison. But we did not meet anyone with hatred. We walk for the freedom of all peoples. But no people can be free when Kurds are not.”
As our Istanbul Deputy Mr. Celal Dogan expressed, Mr. Ahmet Turk is the last peace ambassador of his generation who have been struggling to end the war ongoing for more than 30 years. On this account, the attack on Mr. Turk, in spite of his elder age and his cardiac pacemaker, is a major blow on hopes for peace and desired policies towards peace-making.
As HDP, we condemn this politics of intimidation and oppression towards Mr. Turk and all other HDP and DBP politicians held hostages in Turkish prisons. We yet again emphasize that we are committed to continue our struggle for peace and democracy, in the words of Mr. Ahmet Turk.
Hisyar Ozsoy
Vice Co-chair of HDP Responsible for Foreign Affairs
25 November 2016