‘Which issues do you cover up with party closure?’

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Arzu Çerkezoğlu, the Chair of the Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey (DİSK), has released a written statement about the closure case filed against the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP). She has said, "This country needs reason, justice and democracy."

Stressing that Turkey is facing the serious social consequences of the economic crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic, Çerkezoğlu has stated, "While citizens expect the Grand National Assembly of Turkey to find solutions for these problems, the lawsuit for closing the HDP, the third biggest party at the Parliament, is a serious breaking point for our democracy and future."

'It is not on people's agenda'

Noting that "the right to elect and to be elected is under a systematic attack in Turkey," Arzu Çerkezoğlu has listed a series of current examples from the country, such as the repeat local elections in İstanbul in 2019, the appointment of trustees to HDP municipalities and expulsion of HDP MP Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu from the Parliament over a tweet.

She has said that all these examples "show the dimensions of the danger posed to the right to elect and to be elected" in Turkey.

"Today, our people have no agenda of 'party closure'," she has said, adding, "While our country is dealing with a series of economic and social problems and the outbreak is surging, the government's insistent imposition of party closure has nothing to do with reason, justice or democracy."

Noting that the authorities have failed to "find a solution for the closed businesses, millions of people who have even given up looking for a job as there is no more hope for a vacancy, record-high unemployment, vaccination grinding to a halt and surging outbreak," Çerkezoğlu has asked, "Which issues do they aim to cover up with 'party closure'?"

'Punishing 6 million voters'

DİSK Chair Arzu Çerkezoğlu has noted that "everyone with reason and a knowledge of history has seen times and times again that closing parties cannot put an end to a political party; on the contrary, the political parties succeeding the closed party grow even more."

"Closing a party is an action against justice and democracy, just as it is an action against reason. It is a method that is incompatible with the established universal principles of democracy," she has said.

The DİSK Chair has also referred to the remarks of President and ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan from six years ago. In the related speech, Çerkezoğlu has noted, Erdoğan said that "with party closures, the ones who vote for these parties are punished and party closure should not even be proposed."

"What happened in those six years that it is now seen legitimate to punish 6 million voters who vote for the HDP," Çerkezoğlu has asked.

"It needs to be remembered that democracy and justice is necessary for everyone. Those who are now undermining democracy and the law for their own political prosperity will highly need democracy and the law one day," she has concluded her remarks. (AÖ/SD)