Former HDP co-chairs Demirtaş and Yüksekdağ mark four years in prison
Former HDP co-chairs Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ marked four years in prison on Nov. 4. The former co-chairs and other HDP politicians who are currently under arrest released messages to mark the day, stressing that they didn't bow down to fascism. "We are being held as political hostages, but I would like to stress this once again clearly that we didn't bow down to fascism and we won't do so," Gültan Kışanak said.
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Former co-chairs of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ, marked four years in prison on Nov. 4.
Demirtaş, Yüksekdağ and a number of other HDP deputies were arrested on Nov. 4, 2016 on charges related to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in what the party calls "a political coup."
The former co-chairs and other HDP politicians who are currently under arrest released messages to mark the day, stressing that they didn't bow down to fascism.
"The attacks on our party, which represents hope and resistance of the people, are ongoing. However, we don't leave the path of hope and resistance," Yüksekdağ said in her message.
"Those who thought that they could beat and destroy us four years ago on Nov. 4 failed and won't succeed," she added.
Demirtaş said that those who "put us in prison and took us hostage four years ago are nearing end."
"They are in the process of dissolution. Their dreams of destroying the HDP turned into a nightmare. We are resisting, succeeding and winning," he said.
While former deputy Abdullah Zeydan praised the people for eliminating attacks on the party via their "altruistic stance," Çağlar Demirel said that the government can't rule anymore.
Gültan Kışanak also released a message, saying that the operation on Nov. 4, 2016 aimed to block Kurds from participating in democratic politics.
"We are being held as political hostages, but I would like to stress this once again clearly that we didn't bow down to fascism and we won't do so," she said.
'The policies of oppression made us stronger'
Another former deputy, İdris Baluken, said that the party is proud of not backing down from the struggle for peace, democracy, freedom and justice, while Sebahat Tuncel noted that the political and economic crisis has deepened in the past four years.
"The policies of oppression and state violence have made us stronger. The pressure on the HDP stems from it being the only alternative against the fascist government," Tuncel said.
"Those who carried out the Nov. 4 political coup are doomed to fail. They are at the end of the road, but we are at the start. This is just the beginning, the struggle will continue. We'll resist and organize in prisons, outside, in the fields, factories and on the streets and we will win," she added.