HDP co-chair Buldan meets with EU envoys, discusses crackdown on party

HDP co-chair Pervin Buldan on Dec. 2 met with the ambassadors of EU countries and discussed Ankara's crackdown on the party. Buldan told the envoys that the HDP's power is still very intact despite the oppression and arrests, and that the party will play an “important role” in the political transformation of Turkey.

Duvar English

Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) co-chair Pervin Buldan and HDP deputy co-chair Hişyar Özsoy met with ambassadors of the European Union member states on Dec. 2.

The meeting was hosted by Ambassador Nikolaus Meyer-Landrut, head of the EU Turkey Delegation, in the capital Ankara.

The HDP released a statement saying that Buldan discussed the Turkish government's refusal to abide by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR)'s ruling on former HDP co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş, the Kobane case, the closure case filed against the HDP as well as the policy of isolation imposed on jailed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Öcalan during the meeting.

Buldan also answered the EU envoys' questions, saying that the HDP's power is still very intact despite the oppression and arrests, and that the party will play an “important role” in the political transformation of Turkey, Mezopotamya news agency reported. 

Former HDP co-chairs Demirtaş and Yüksekdağ as well as a number of other HDP deputies were arrested on Nov. 4, 2016 on charges related to the PKK in what the party calls "a political coup."

Since then, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) ramped up its crackdown on the HDP, going as far as to seek the party's closure. 

Turkey has a long history of shutting down political parties, including pro-Kurdish ones. Critics say its judiciary is subject to political influence, a claim denied by the AKP and its coalition ally Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). 

The HDP is Turkey’s third-largest party, with 55 seats in the 600-member parliament.

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Topics Turkey HDP Pervin Buldan EU ambassadors Nikolaus Meyer-Landrut