HDK: Break off relations with Israel to stop genocide 2023-10-18 16:07:17   ISTANBUL - Speaking at the protest in front of the Israeli Consulate, HDK Co-Spokesperson Esengül Demir called for severing relations with Israel to stop the "genocidal" attacks.   The People's Democratic Congress (HDK) protested Israel's attacks on Palestine in front of the Israeli Consulate in Beşiktaş. Many people attended the statement, as well as HDK, People's Equality and Democracy Party (HEDEP), Socialist Party of the Oppressed (ESP), Socialist Assemblies Federation (SMF), Labor Movement Party (EHP) and Socialist Solidarity Platform (SODAP) and the crowd gathered in front of the Levent subway and marched towards the Israeli Consulate with the banner "Down with Israeli colonialism, long live a free Palestine". During the march, slogans such as "End the agreements, boycott Israel" and "Down with Israel, get out of the Middle East" were frequently chanted.   PALESTINE ATTACK AND PERMIT   HDK Co-Spokesperson Esengül Demir said that Gaza has been bombed for days with the aim of "dehumanizing" it. Drawing attention that Al-Ehli Baptist Hospital was targeted and hundreds of Palestinians were massacred, Demir said: "The USA and its imperialist forces supported Israel's attacks. This open genocide is supported by imperialist powers. While there were nation states in the former Ottoman geography in the world order that emerged after the first war of partition, the geography in which the two peoples of the region, Kurds and Palestinians, lived was fragmented through different processes. They was deprived of the right to govern themselves and determine their own destiny."   Kurds in Northern and Eastern Syria; Stating that Palestinians are under the threat of genocide in Gaza, Demir said: "The Turkish state regime, which is doing in Rojava similar to what the Zionist regime did in Gaza, wants to use our people's sensitivity towards Palestine to cover up its own crimes. While it benefits from the Palestine issue with arrogance based on religious brotherhood, it is working with Israel. The leaders of the opposition parties, who once again voted for the resolution for ethnic cleansing in Rojava around the same time as the bombing of Al-Ahl, continue to talk about the Palestinian cause. To divert attention from themselves, they turn the conversation to Israel's war crimes."   EMPHASIS ON EQUALITY AND FREEDOM   Emphasizing that the disaster in Gaza must be prevented, Demir said: "The Palestine problem is not a religious conflict. The Palestinian people are fighting against the Jewish supremacist Zionist regime, not the Jews."   Stating that the AKP, which issued a memorandum against the Kurds in Northern and Eastern Syria, increased its trade volume with Israel by 532 percent during its 21-year rule, Demir said: "Turkey is using the Palestine issue 'fraudulently' to 'deceive the people'. I am from Turkey. As forces of democracy, we believe and support the entire Middle East, from Palestine to Kurdistan, to be the democratic confederal home of the equal and free unity of nations and peoples. We call to the state to break off relations with Israel to stop the genocide in Gaza and we support the resistance of the Palestinian people."