The European Free Alliance (EFA) condemns in the most clear and categorical way the arrests of the pro-Kurdish party HDP co-leaders Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag, along with at least 11 more HDP MPs during a night raid of the police in Ankara.

It is the culmination of a large-scale terror campaign orchestrated by Turkish President Erdogan, which started immediately after the failed coup last July. It included detention of thousands of political opponents, armed operations against the Kurdish population, closure of media outlets and restrictions to the access of the internet and social networks. This time, though, the Erdogan regime seemed to have gone too far. The attack against HDP, a party with 59 MPs, voted by 5 million of people in the last elections, is a direct attack on democracy that cannot be tolerated further.

“The war declaration against the Kurdish and democratic opposition is the real coup”, comments EFA Vice President Lorena Lopez de Lacalle. “The myth of a democratic Turkish government collapsed definitely last night and we are now faced with a pure and hard dictatorship.”

EFA firmly believes that the European Commission should immediately suspend all existing agreements with Ankara and indefinitely postpone all accession negotiations. Such undemocratic and barbaric acts have no place even in Europe and should be immediately and utterly condemned with actions and not just words.