ISTANBUL - HDK Co-Spokesperson Ali Kenanoğlu stated that the aim of the operations against municipalities in Istanbul is to dissolve the opposition that was achieved with the ‘Urban Consensus’ and added: "The government is taking revenge on CHP for the 'Urban Consensus' on the one hand and trying to prevent CHP from participating in the solution on the other."

 

Within the scope of the investigation initiated by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, 10 people, including deputy mayors of Kartal and Ataşehir and municipal council members from Tuzla, Adalar, Şişli, Beyoğlu and Fatih, were detained yesterday. In the statement made by the Chief Public Prosecutor's Office on the grounds of the investigation, for the targeted ‘Urban Consensus’ the Prosecutor's Office used the expressions as follows: "The main investigation carried out by the prosecutor's office regarding the members of the HDK Roof Organisation operating in the province of Istanbul in order to decipher its activities with all its elements and members" . 

 

Peoples' Democratic Congress (HDK) Co-spokesperson Ali Kenanoğlu spoke about the investigation and detentions. 

 

Kenanoğlu stated that the operation is directed against the municipalities partnered within the scope of the "Urban Consensus" and that he knows that the partnership is a destruction for the government. Kenanoğlu said, "By criminalising the urban consensus, the government aims to clamp CHP and distance it from these alliances. This is how it wants to win the elections. Because AKP has only one ideology; it is the ideology of winning elections. They do not hesitate to do this openly." 

 

Kenanoğlu said that HDK covers a wide range of social areas and that ecological, youth, religious organizations and socialist parties are in contact wiht HDK. Stating that the HDK is unlimited, "They want to criminalise the HDK and create a concept of terrorism out of it and accuse everyone they don't want on this basis. In the operation against the Istanbul Bar Association, HDK was used as an excuse for the arrest of the council members of Esenyurt Municipality. Now they are trying to link the usurpation of the municipalities won with the 'Urban Consensus' to the HDK in an interesting way. It is not possible to accept this," he said. 

 

Underlining that HDK has an important role in ensuring social peace, Kenanoğlu said, "It is not a coincidence that HDK is targeted at a time when demands for peace are being discussed. Whichever layer of society demands peace, they have been attacked. In other words, it is conscious to criminalise an institution that so clearly demands the socialisation of peace. But international experiences have clearly shown us that neither the government nor the warring parties; peace comes whenever the society demands it. That is why they do not want the demand for peace to be socialised." 

 

‘CHP SHOULD BE MORE COURAGEOUS’

 

Stating that an important aim of the attacks is to prevent the CHP from being involved in the solution of the Kurdish issue, Kenanoğlu said: "The government is taking revenge for the 'Urban Consensus' against the CHP on the one hand and trying to prevent the CHP from being involved in the solution on the other.  In the 2013-2015 process, the CHP was against the process and therefore the government did what it wanted. As Mr Abdullah Öcalan said, ‘If the opposition is not involved in this process, it is impossible’. The CHP's first steps on this issue were positive. The government was uncomfortable with this and took steps to dismantle this area. After the government's operations, the CHP was unable to talk about the discussions. The CHP should not step back because the more you step back, the more they will come at you. It is necessary to unite, integrate and stand in solidarity with the Kurdish people, the Kurdish question, the DEM Party and the left socialists with a louder voice than yesterday." 

 

Stating that all segments who define themselves as democrats should not allow the HDK to be criminalised, Kenanoğlu added, "Especially in such processes, television channels that present themselves as democratic; when they make sentences about the operations, they broadcast the language of the government or the statement of the public prosecutor as it is. Broadcasting without even taking the opinion of the other side means accepting the accusations. Do not be a partner of the language that criminalises HDK." 

 

MA / Esra Solin Dal