Arrest of 82 People Associated with People's Democratic Party in Turkey

That the Parliament notes the reports of 82 arrests of people associated with the People’s Democratic Party (HDP) in Turkey, including recently-elected mayors; condemns these arrests as being what it sees an attempt to intimidate and silence the Kurdish people and democratic opposition in Turkey; understands that many of these arrests are linked to the protests against the ISIS assault on the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobane in 2014, protests, which it believes were heavily repressed by the Turkish authorities at the time; expresses concern at what it sees as the ongoing repression of the HDP and other Kurdish and democratic organisations in Turkey, particularly what it believes to be the targeting of elected representatives through a process of arrest, disqualification and replacement by central government appointees, and calls on the UK Government to use all diplomatic means necessary to protect the rights of the Kurdish people in Turkey.