HDP deputies have openly provided support to the outlawed PKK. They have attended their events, delivered speeches in which they praised the terror-listed organization and went as far as threatening Turkish state officials. Below we provide some examples.

9 October 2011: HDP co-chair Selahattin Demirtas said: “We invite all our people to resist [against the Turkish state]. We will resist no matter what people think, today is the day of resistance. Everyone will know their place.”

6 August 2012: HDP deputy Nursel Akdogan said: “The PM says they [HDP deputies] cannot call the PKK a terrorist organization. Yes, that's right. We can’t because the PKK is not a terrorist organization.”

13 November 2012: HDP co-chair Selahattin Demirtas said: “We’ll erect the statue of our leader Apo [Abdullah Ocalan],” referring to the PKK leader.

January 2014: HDP deputy Faysal Sariyildiz said: “We will resist until our friends in prison are set free until we embrace all our guerilla fighters and until our leader Ocalan is set free.”

21 March 2014: HDP deputy Faysal Sariyildiz said: “Democratic autonomy is being established. The Kurdish struggle will make celebrations with this spirit. I wish a happy Nevruz to Apo, the leader and the guide of Kurdish people and to all the guerilla fighters in the mountains.”

8 June 2015: HDP deputy Burcu Celik Ozkan said: “We know very well how to turn the guns back on you,” referring to village guards. “You’ll be pushed off this land.”

20 July 2015: Referring to the PKK’s affiliate in Syria, HDP co-chair Figen Yuksekdag said: “We rely on the YPG, and we do not see any inconvenience in saying this!”

27 July 2015: HDP deputy Abdullah Zeydan said: “The PKK is a peace movement to turn Turkey and the Middle East into a garden of roses. If the PKK didn’t want to turn Turkey into a rose garden, it would kill you at one shot for it bears such strength.”

August 2015: HDP deputy Nihat Akdogan said: “We bow down in front of the martyrs who voted for us and our leader...If you do not recognize our autonomy, then we will not recognize you as the government de jure and its official state institutions.”

1 September 2015: Carrying a PKK militant’s coffin, Tugba Hezer Ozturk pushed a police officer and used offensive language saying: “You son of a b****! Scumbag state officer, I represent the state, you son of a b****! You'll never get away with this!”

5 September 2015: Upon the death of a PKK member, HDP deputy Gursel Yildirim said: “We are grateful to our friend Lokman [the PKK militant] and all our martyrs. We owe them a lot.”

7 October 2015: HDP co-chair Selahattin Demirtas threatened party members who do not attend the funerals of PKK members with an investigation and eventual disciplinary charges. He said: “I’ll be honest here. I’ll get an internal investigation started about a [HDP] deputy on the grounds of party discipline if they don’t share the pain of our people. We receive votes from those people. Of course you’ll be sensitive about their pain. You’ll attend their funeral ceremonies.”

12 November 2015: HDP deputy Ziya Pir said: “Self-rule is our right, we will get it no matter what. From now on we won’t listen to any stories of fraternity.”

31 December 2015: In an interview, HDP co-chair Selahattin Demirtas encouraged the digging of trenches by the PKK, saying that they would be the “winners," and accused some intellectuals that blamed him for not taking a stance against the PKK’s violence of being “traitors.”

Date unknown: Speaking about the PKK militants behind the trenches and barricades in southeastern provinces, HDP Ankara deputy Sirri Sureyya Onder called on everyone to salute "those precious young people."

21 March 2016: HDP co-chair Selahattin Demirtas in the Baglar district of Diyarbakir said: “Long live Apo! The PKK is the people, the people are here and no life is possible without the leader.”

5 July 2016: HDP co-chair Figen Yuksekdag commemorated PKK militants neutralized in operations carried out by Turkish security forces and said: “Let us not forget those who dedicated themselves, our martyrs. We are here thanks to their efforts.”