President Erdoğan’s latest attacks on HDP party representatives in Turkey must be condemned by all political groups at the European Parliament, and Parliament’s President Sassoli must lead in taking a clear stance against Ankara’s relentless assault on democracy.

More and more HDP MPs are being tortured, persecuted, strip-searched and jailed by Turkish courts and the security apparatus across the Kurdish region – with parliamentary immunity being brazenly lifted, and prison sentences handed down on baseless, trumped up charges.

The latest developments also come after a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) for the release of HDP co-leader Selahattin Demirtaş, who has been in jail for more than four years on unsubstantiated terrorism-related charges.

Calling for wider EU action, co-president of The Left group Martin Schirdewan (Die Linke, Germany) said:

“This is an outrageous assault on democracy. Our group calls on all other political groups in the European Parliament to take a clear, political stance in defence of the HDP parliamentarians. Like us, they are doing their duty by exercising their mandates as democratic representatives.

“President David Sassoli must stand up for the Kurds and condemn Erdoğan’s aggression on behalf of the whole of the European Parliament.”

“We call on EU foreign ministers to address this urgent issue at the Council meeting today. Turkey’s assault on democracy must also be discussed by EU leaders at the summit later this week. Now is not the time for inaction. Democracy must be defended at all costs.”

Photo courtesy of PASCAL.VAN on Flickr