HDK: The ‘Third Way’ is vital

The 3rd General Conference of the Peoples’ Democratic Congress (HDK) was held in Istanbul over the weekend. A final declaration presented on Monday, which details the discussions at the conference, called the decisions of the Climate Summit in Glasgow an “absolute fiasco”. HDK stated that “secret and open agreements” were concluded, which would only deepen the ecological crisis while measures and plans for the benefit of peoples, women, LGBTI+ and workers were not taken.

At the nearly two-week climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland, the international community negotiated how to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels. This target was agreed at the 2015 climate summit in Paris. However, the measures agreed in Glasgow are not enough to achieve this.

“No readiness to solve multiple crises in Turkey”

Regarding the crisis in Turkey, HDK said, “It is a clear fact that the mass poverty and hunger caused by the economic dimension of the multiple crises in Turkey is deepening rapidly and that the government could not even find a temporary solution to this issue, let alone be willing to do so.” Erdoğan, it said, wants to continue his rule through war alone and go into new elections with a military success. To that end, HDK said, he intends to “expand the occupied territories in Syria” and make the “democratic forces in Syria, which are an obstacle to his plans, pay.” HDK said there was also “serious evidence” of chemical weapons use by the Turkish state in southern Kurdistan (northern Iraq).

“Rights violations against prisoners have become the norm”

Illegal practices also prevail in prisons, the HDK said and continued, “Sick prisoners are prevented from visiting the infirmary or hospital, violence prevails, sentence reductions are disregarded, the release of prisoners after serving their sentences is delayed, and strip searches of female prisoners take place. Such and similar practices have become the norm under this regime.”

“Our choice is the Third Way”

Against the backdrop of economic crisis and conflicts, the regime is in an accelerated process of dissolution, which is why elections could be held soon, the final declaration said. Pointing out that there is not much difference between the People’s Alliance (AKP-MHP) and the Nation’s Alliance (CHP-IYI), HDK said, “In this situation, what we call the Third Way is important. It is about developing and strengthening the democratic alliance. The local construction of this alliance, whose social struggle base goes beyond the elections, is vital for the creation of a lasting unity.”

HDK said it is their “historical responsibility” to intensify its efforts, develop initiatives and carry out organized and sustainable work to build a network of local social organizing that will develop into the “real base of power.”

The final declaration by HDK concluded by commemorating, on occasion of the Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Transphobia (November 20) and the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women (November 25), all those who have been victims of hate crimes and patriarchal violence. HDK also commemorated the spiritual leader of the resistance in the Alevi-Kurdish town of Dersim, Seyit Riza, and his companions, who were executed 84 years ago today by the Turkish state and whose burial site is still kept secret.