Green Left Party releases final declaration: 'Our mission is to end the one-man regime'

Photo: MA

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The Green Left (Yeşil Sol) Party has released a final declaration after yesterday's (March 26) party assembly meeting.

"The oppressed, democrats, revolutionaries, Alevis, Kurds, women and youth of this country have a historical possibility to get rid of this oppressive and security-ridden one-man regime and to take a step towards a democratic republic. It is up to us to use this opportunity and we will use it," says the declaration.

"In these elections, millions of new voters will cast votes. The youth has words to say and votes to cast. We are determined to provide a basis in order for them to express these words and to express their demands for their rights to education, shelter, travel and all other demands.

"We will make every effort for the rights of children who face the consequences of current economic policies such as malnutrition, deprivation of the right to education, and who are subjected to violence and abuse."

Facing a closure case, the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), the most popular party among the country's Kurdish electorate, decided last week to compete in the May 14 elections under the Green Left Party.

The Labor and Freedom Alliance, which comprises the Green Left and several left-wing parties, announced on March 22 that it would not field a candidate for the presidential election in a decision increasing the chances of the opposition against President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's re-election bid.

Increasing anti-LGBTI+ sentiment

Mentioning the discussions in the government circles about a possible abolition of law no. 6284 on violence against women, the party said, "The government, which withdrew from the İstanbul Convention, now brings law no. 6284 into discussion with its alliance.

"We will be a rising voice against the increased hostility towards the LGBTI+, the neutralization of the means of combating violence against women and all other sexist policies.

"We will create a wide organization that will carry out the struggle for the freedom of all the oppressed peoples, especially the Kurdish people. We will struggle to achieve lasting peace against security and pro-war policies pursued by the government.

"Coming out of this election successfully is important not only for the people of this country but also for all the peoples of the region. We have to win for peace in the region, for the future of the peoples and the people who have fled the war and become refugees.

"Our mission for today is to end the one-man regime. It is to destroy this oppressive and monist order and to lay the foundations of a libertarian and democratic political life in which all kinds of exclusion and discrimination are eliminated."

Demirtaş: A Taliban alliance has formed

Selahattin Demirtaş, the imprisoned former co-leader of the HDP, described the ruling alliance as "a kind of Taliban alliance" after two Islamist parties joined.

Recently, the New Welfare (Yeniden Refah) Party, which shares the same Islamic roots with Erdoğan's Justice and Development Party (AKP), and the Free Cause Party (HÜDA PAR), a Kurdish Islamist group, joined the People's Alliance. The other parties in the alliance are the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and its offshoot Great Unity Party (BBP).

With the new additions, the People's Alliance has become the "most right-wing and the most reactionary bloc in the political history of Turkey. A kind of Taliban Alliance has formed," he wrote in an article for the Artı Gerçek news portal.

"Especially for women, this might be the last election they will ever see. Because the Taliban Alliance will roll up its sleeves to usurp the rights of women," he wrote.

The Kurdish politician called on the opposition to warn the public and raise awareness about the threats and dangers to be caused by the alliance. (TY/ME/VK)