HDP Youth Congress kicks off in Amed

The third youth congress of the HDP is taking place in Amed today with thousands of participants arriving from Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Adana, Mersin, Kocaeli and the Kurdish cities, and there was extensive dancing in front of the event hall in the Kayapinar district before the congress began. The police carried out control, to which people reacted by shouting slogans.

In addition to the members of the HDP Youth Council, left-wing youth organisations and student associations from Turkey as well as delegates from the Armenian Youth Federation and the Lebanese Communist Party are taking part in the congress under the slogan “Now is the time of the youth”.

The congress was opened with the song Çerxa Şoreşê. Youth organisations from Şengal, Galicia, Greece and Egypt sent greetings assuring the HDP youth of solidarity and wishing a successful event.

In its call for the congress, the HDP Youth Council had stated that the crisis taking place in Turkey can be overcome “with the dynamics of women and youth and the common struggle of the peoples”: “We will live with our own culture and language. We will fight more against the isolation of academia and the precarious situation of students. We oppose the deprivation of the youth of their future. We not only demand the right to mother-tongue education and the autonomy of universities, we will ensure that they are implemented. We will not allow humanity to be deprived of its roots and history and nature to be exploited by those in power.”

The call was addressed to working and unemployed youth, students, homeless people and all young people who wanted to change something: “Let’s organise together in the youth council and liberate ourselves together. Let’s not leave the decision about our future to the rulers! Let’s fight together to experience a free tomorrow as free youth! The way there is rocky and difficult, but it is also full of hope for change. We are determined to do so and invite all young people who are dissatisfied with the current state of affairs to walk this path together with us and take part in our congress.”