Erdogan’s regime has arrested more than 16,000 party members since 2015, says Turkish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP)

Ankara, (ST) -The opposition HDP in Turkey announced that the regime of Recep Tayyip Erdogan has arrested more than 16,000 party members, including parliamentarians, since 2015.

Zaman newspaper quoted the spokeswoman for the Peoples’ Democratic Party of Representatives (HDP), Ebru Junai, as saying in a press conference that the party was subjected to a political massacre, as 16 thousand and 490 of its members have been arrested and suspended, including the heads of the party and 18 parliamentarians and prominent leaders in it.

Junai added that 3,695 members of the party have been imprisoned, and currently the Turkish authorities are holding 7 MPs and 15 members of the Executive Committee as hostages, while 13 parliamentarians have had immunity lifted off them  while  48 municipalities affiliated to the HDP  were monitored since August 19, 2019. The Turkish authorities also dismissed 82 members of municipal councils from their posts and arrested 119 members of municipal councils and imprisoned 2.

It is noteworthy that Erdogan’s regime has turned Turkey into a police state. It controls the judiciary and police sectors and runs these sectors in a way that serves its interests and oppressive policies.

Raghda Sawas