Address by Yiorgos Koukoumas, member of the C.C. of AKEL, to the 3rd Regular Congress of HDP Turkey (Peoples’ Democratic Party)
Sunday 11th February 2018, Ankara, Turkey
On behalf of the Central Committee of AKEL, we address a warm militant greeting to the Peoples’ Democratic Party HDP, its leadership, members and friends. We address a special greeting of solidarity with the Co-chair of HDP Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ, as well as the Members of Parliament and members of your Party who are in prison. On behalf of AKEL, we express our solidarity towards the heroic struggle you and other progressive forces of the country are waging for democracy, freedom and the respect for fundamental rights in Turkey. This is a struggle linked to the struggle for the rights of the working class and all the working people of your country, for the world of social equality and peace.
We express our concern because the rise of authoritarianism within Turkey also extends as an intensification of the government’s aggression abroad, in neighboring Syria, as well as in the turbulent suffering region of the Eastern Mediterranean as well, including our homeland, Cyprus. Moreover, you also know that in the occupied northern part of Cyprus, the democratic and progressive voices of the Turkish Cypriots are subject to the violence and terror carried out by the circles aligned to Tayyip Erdogan, with the latest example being the attack against the Turkish Cypriot newspaper “Afrika”.
At the same time, as AKEL, we have denounced and continue to denounce Turkey’s operations in Syria, which violate the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Syria, and which are once again targeting the Kurds who waged and are waging a heroic struggle against the murderous formation of IS. NATO, the United States and the European Union bear enormous responsibilities as a consequence of their stand with regards the ongoing bloodshed. AKEL was, is and will be in solidarity with the struggle of the Kurds against oppression, state violence, persecution and authoritarianism; with your struggle for prosperity and the restoration of your national rights. We believe that the solution to the Kurdish issue will make a decisive contribution to peace and security throughout the whole of our region.
The struggle of AKEL and the people of Cyprus for the liberation and reunification of our homeland is a part of the struggle for peace and security in our wider region as well; a struggle to end Turkey’s occupation and colonization of the occupied areas and to free our island from foreign “guardians” and imperialist interventions. Our struggle aims to reunite Cyprus and its people so that Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots can together become the true masters of our common homeland, in a united, independent, sovereign and federal state. On this occasion, we would like to repeat that nothing separates the peoples of Cyprus, Turkey and Greece. The common enemy is nationalism and militarism. Their common enemy has been and still remains imperialism that perceives the countries and peoples of the world as dispensable in their plans and machinations.
With these thoughts in mind, we convey our appreciation for the cooperation we have forged, particularly within the framework of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. We wish you every success to your Congress.
We stand in solidarity with your struggles for freedom and democracy in Turkey.