HDP: The putschists of today are AKP and MHP

41 years have passed since the military coup of September 12, 1980. The Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) demands a reappraisal of the crimes of that time and sees the policies of the current AKP/MHP government as a continuation of the military junta. “Hundreds of thousands of arrests, thousands of detentions, torture, expulsion, executions, extra-legal executions and murders of ‘unknown perpetrators’: Every form of inhumane treatment and great destruction occurred in the wake of the coup. The effects are still being felt today,” said a statement issued by the HDP Executive Board on the occasion of the anniversary.

The lawlessness in Turkey has continued since the coup until today, the HDP explained, listing examples of it: “disregard for the constitution, one-man regime, unscrupulous violation of fundamental rights and freedoms, extra-legal executions, lawless action against the peoples of Turkey and especially against the Kurdish people.”

The AKP/MHP government continues the practice of the military junta of the time and violently suppresses all demands for democracy, justice, freedom and peace. With its actions, it eclipses the 1980 putschists: “Every lawlessness that the putschists dreamed of back then meets us today as an achievement of the AKP/MHP government. The junta of today is the government and its open, secret and deep partners who maintain the coup mechanism and ensure that the Kurdish issue is not resolved.”

Today’s coup mentality is characterized by the destruction of nature, exploitation, unemployment, poverty, feminicide, children killed in the streets, deaths in prisons, forced administration, imprisoned politicians and the banning of the HDP. In order to stop this mechanism, the Kurdish question must be solved in a democratic way and a new life must be built. A reappraisal of the coup will be ensured by the common struggle of the peoples,” said the HDP, “respectfully remembering the citizens who lost their lives in the coup.”