About 30,000 people, including more than 100 international guests, attended the 5th Congress of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) in Ankara, Turkey on July 3.
The Turkish state is trying to ban the HDP, the third largest party in the Turkish parliament and has imprisoned many of its leaders, MPs, mayors and municipal councillors. Re-elected HDP co-chair Pervin Buldan sent a sharp message to the Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi (AKP) government of Turkey: "The Middle East and Syria will not be shaped by your hostility against Kurds, but by the will of the Kurdish people in favour of co-existence, and through the democratic alliances it forms with the peoples it lives side by side."
The Socialist Alliance, which was invited to attend, sent video greetings because high airfares prevented in-person attendance. Newly-elected Greens senator David Shoebridge also sent video greetings.