IWA Condemns the Arrest of Leyla Güven

The International Women’s Alliance (IWA) strongly condemns the arrest of Parliamentarian Leyla  Güven,  last June 4,2020.  Leyla Güven   was arrested in Diyarbakir, Turkey,  together with two other Parliament members,   HDP Musa Farisoğulları and CHP MP Enis  Berberoğlu.

On the morning of June 4, 2020, the immunity of the three Parliamentarians were lifted followed by their arrest.  Ms. Güven described the revocation of their parliamentary membership as an attempt to eliminate Kurdish politics from democratic grounds, saying; “This is simply a coup and cannot be called otherwise”.

Leyla Güven, is a member of parliament from the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) and co-chair of the Democratic Society Congress.  In 2018, together with thousands of Kurdish political prisoners, she went on hunger strike to demand the breaking of the  isolation of  Kurdish leader, Abdullah Öcalan.  She was on hunger strike for 200 days.

The International Women’s Alliance calls for the immediate release of Leyla  Güven,  HDP Musa Farisoğulları and CHP MP Enis  Berberoğlu.