HDP announces it will join ‘justice rally’ in Istanbul’s Maltepe

ANKARA

The Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) announced on July 6 that it will join the “justice rally” to be held by the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) in Istanbul’s Maltepe district on July 9.

“In an attempt to make a contribution to the social justice search, which we care about and continue to struggle for, we will also join the rally in Istanbul on July 9 with the slogan of ‘Justice for everyone,’” the Kurdish issue-focused HDP said in a statement issued after its central executive board meeting. 

“It is one of our most important desires that this struggle continues, builds up, and contributes to democratization in every way with the support we give through collaboration with those organizing the rally,” the statement added. 

“Empowering the democratic struggle is today an indispensable duty within the basis of universal human rights and freedoms, universal democratic maxims of law, and international democratic agreements,” it also said. 

The “justice march” led by CHP head Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu set out from Ankara on June 15, one day after CHP Istanbul deputy Enis Berberoğlu was sentenced to 25 years in jail for allegedly “revealing state secrets.”

The march will culminate in a large rally in the Maltepe district on Istanbul’s Asian side on July 9, after over 20 days of marching around 450 km.

Kılıçdaroğlu previously said the march was “not just a struggle or demand for Berberoğlu,” but a walk for “everyone who wants justice.”