‘Poverty in Turkey is a result of government’s deliberate policies’

Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Co-Chair Mithat Sancar spoke at the weekly group meeting of the HDP yesterday (April 5).

Referring to the economic crisis, Sancar recalled that “vast majority of citizens have been pushed in a big crisis and live under the poverty and starvation lines”. Referring to the Justice and Development Party (AKP), Sancar said, “This is a result of the government’s deliberate policies”.

He explained, “Because this government allocates funds not to people, but to the capital, not to the country, but to exploitation and unearned income. Thus, the country is rife with poverty, hunger and misery”.

Recalling that the HDP had submitted a motion foreseeing that the minimum wage is adjusted every three months according to the inflation rate, Sancar underlined that this should be the case not only for the minimum wage, but for all wages. Defining the statements of the ruling party and government officials about the issue as “contradictory”, Sancar said:

“A minister comes up and says that the minimum wage will be increased soon; then, the AKP Chair and President [Erdoğan] refutes it and says that the minimum wage will be increased in December”.

‘Those who resist always win’

Further in his speech, HDP Co-Chair Mithat Sancar also talked about the Kobanî trial of the HDP politicians, including jailed former HDP Co-Chair Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ. He said:

“Yes, the media is under control, the government controls everything, leaving no stone unturned to silence us, but we still need to find a way.

“History writes what is said about justice, peace, rights, law and democracy there everyday, but we are obliged to convey these words to the widest masses possible. We criticize ourselves before our friends if we cannot adequately fulfill this obligation. But we will strive for this, we will make efforts for this. If all roads are closed, we will build new ones. We have to”.

Referring to the proceedings in the Kobanî trial, Mithat Sancar argued that “fake documents, fake anonymous witnesses, the restrictions on the right of defense, torture on the way to the court and prisons and unlawful practices prove that this case is a case of plot”.

He added, “But the ones who resist have always won. We know that. Right and truth always win. We know it and we will show it again here”.

CLICK – Kobanî trial | ‘The prosecutor was after a false statement’

‘Don’t remain in the government’s playground’

Ahead of the general elections expected to be held in 2023, HDP’s Sancar addressed the other opposition parties in Turkey and said, “If you want to be an alternative to this government, you have to move away from its mentality. If you really want to bring democracy, justice and peace to this country, don’t remain in the playground drawn by the government”.

Sancar explained, “If you remain there, this path will lead nowhere but to the old order with an eyewash, extension and new face”.

Underlining that “this country no longer has the tolerance to lose”, Sancar raised concerns about the “destruction, atrocity and injustice in this country” and said, “None of us – none of us – has the right to pass time with dry phrases and empty messages in the face of this”.

Resolution process for the Kurdish question

Concluding his remarks, Sancar referred to the Dolmabahçe Agreement dated February 28, 2015 within the context of the Resolution Process for the Kurdish question. “Hopes were boosted, the but government was the one who destroyed it,” said Sancar, briefly adding:

“Apart from destroying this, it turned to the most severe war policies. The destruction caused by war policies is apparent. The most important cause of this picture of collapse in the country is these war policies.

“It is not realistic that a government which pursues such war policies plays the role of a peace dove now. We know that this war can end only with the common will of peoples and with the rights of peoples granted. Peace can be ensured not with the ones who pursue war policies on the one hand and play the role of a peace dove in other parts of the world and seek after benefits from this war on the other, but with the joint struggle of peoples”. (EMK/SD)