ANKARA- Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Women’s Assembly has made a written statement on 10 years eight months prison sentence to HDP Hakkari MP Selma Irmak and says, “We will be spirit water to this women’s spring with women’s freedom struggle cannot put behind bars. This spring cannot be repressed.”

 

Yesterday, the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Hakkari MP Selma Irmak was sentenced to 10 years and eight months in prison by the court. Today, HDP Women’s Assembly has made a written statement on this issue. The statement says;

 

“Selma Irmak, Şırnak MP of the Peace and Democracy Party in the 24th term of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey and Hakkari MP of our party HDP in the 25th and 26th term of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, was held in prison for about 10 years in 1990s against the Kurdish people’s demand for peace and she was held captive for about five years between 2009-2014. Selma, who was co-chair of the DTP (Democratic Society Party) and co-chair of the Democratic Society Congress (DTK) between 2014 and 2016, was lastly taken into custody on November 4, 2016 by civilian coup of the AKP-palace and she was imprisoned and she has been held in prison for a year as political hostage. 

 

‘Selma's resistance inspires us as women’

 

Selma's insistent and resistant struggle against oppression and tyranny in prison continues to inspire and to strengthen us. Selma’s sentence, “We will keep resisting in prison and in everywhere’ becomes a hope for women today. Selma’s words “As women carrying out women’s freedom movement for years, we act with the principle ‘Women’s friends are women’” shows the power of women’s solidarity and women’s companionship.

 

‘We will not obey the pressures’

 

Selma Irmak, who has dedicated her life to women’s freedom struggle, to the will of peoples and of beliefs to be together and equal, and HDP’s women, who have claims to transform the politics and to democratize it, will not obey these pressures. We will stand by Selma Irmak and all jailed women with our ululation, resistance, struggle and joy like we did before. As HDP’s women, we will stand against all forms of violence and unlawfulness to the end until our struggle we carry out with the motto, ‘these laws cannot be passed like this, the women will not allow this’ gets a result. We will be spirit water to this women’s spring with women’s freedom struggle cannot put behind bars. This spring cannot be repressed!”