ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) opened its consultative conference on Friday in Turkey’s capital Ankara in preparation for its upcoming February congress. Sezai Temelli, the party’s co-chair, said the aim of the congress is to strengthen the organization.



The party’s “grand conference” taking place on Friday and Saturday is being held to set the agenda for its fourth congress, scheduled for February 23, according to a party statement.



“We will carry the results of our grand conference to our 4th Grand Ordinary Congress on February 23,” the statement said.



Some 600 delegates from all over Turkey are attending the conference under the slogan: “To win today and tomorrow, more organized and stronger HDP!”



The HDP held its first Central Organizational Congress in Diyarbakir in August 2019 to consult its members and allies about its future and call for the establishment of “social peace” among the country’s ethnic and religious groups.



Founded in 2012 to promote the protection of Kurdish cultural and political rights, the HDP later sought to broaden its range of supporters.



It is now the third-largest party in Turkey, having won 8.4 percent of the vote in Turkey’s parliamentary election of June 2018.



The party’s third ordinary congress was held in February 2018 when co-chairs Temelli and Pervin Buldan were re-elected.



Facing risks



Opening the conference, Temelli said his party faces several risks, referring to recent government crackdowns on HDP officials which have led to the removal of 32 mayors and the detention of 23 others since the March 2019 local elections.



“There are risks: inside and outside. Our response to all these risks is our holistic collective understanding of politics and the struggle we have made. We have to get bigger and we have to definitely put forward a development that mirrors our opinions,” said Temelli.



Accused of fostering ties with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) – an armed group struggling for Kurdish political and cultural rights in Turkey – the HDP has regularly come under attack, particularly since the failure of the short-lived peace process between the PKK and the Turkish state in July 2015 and the failed coup of July 2016.



Its former co-chairs, Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag, were among several HDP officials and members arrested after the putsch – many of them still behind bars.



In her opening remarks, Buldan said the congress will “bring light”.



“Today’s two-day normal conference will bring light. We will carry out comprehensive and valuable discussions which will clarify the road map of our party in the coming period. We will review our shortcomings together. We will clarify our goals and political line,” she said.



Letter from jail



Demirtas and his cellmate, former HDP lawmaker Abdullah Zeydan, sent the conference a letter from prison calling for a democratic and peaceful solution to Turkey’s challenges.



“We are the party of all the oppressed of Turkey and we side with the peaceful solution of all problems in Turkey through dialogue and democracy. We want to realize this together with the philosophy of life,” they said.



“It is a great benefit for everyone who speaks on behalf of our party to repeat these messages everywhere and in every speech without getting tired,” they added.



The letter commented on recent criticism from Turkish officials and nationalists against the showcase of Demirtas’ story, Devran, in the form of a play in Istanbul on January 11 and the availability of his books at high street bookstores, coupled with the release of his new book, Leylan.



Demirtas and Zeydan urged the HDP to be resilient in the face of the slander campaign and not to retaliate.

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