The UEL strongly condemns an eventual ban of the HDP, a party democratically elected by millions of Turkish people. The politically motivated actions by the Turkish government against the Party should immediately stop. The justice system needs to remain fully independent from politics. The HDP has proved that it fights for Democracy, Human Rights, and freedom in Europe, and the UEL group is honoured to work with them side by side in the context of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
The HDP should be free to put its ideas and candidates before the electorate. Their elected members and party activists should also be free to practice their politics without being arrested on spurious excuses, and their elected mayors and councils should be allowed to carry out the roles with which voters entrusted them. The UEL calls on the Turkish government and its institutions to respect international and European law and the European Convention on Human Rights, and to show justice towards the HDP as a prerequisite for democracy.