Mayor of Diyarbakir: votes for the block are votes for peace

New tour of Diyarbakir this morning. A convoy of cars and vans crossed the city handing out leaflets and to speak to people on the last few days of election campaign.

Diyarbakir mayor Osman Baydemir had addressed a crowd of several hundreds  last night and this morning he was up and around the city. “I am convinced – he says that every vote given to Labor, Democracy and Freedom Block is a vote for peace. Our people – he adds – want peace and we have been working for this for a long time. Others are creating obstacles”.
Baydemir accepts that these elections are indeed “historic. I believe many in the world are watching and waiting with interest what is going to come out on 12 June”.
Last night the Mayor of Diyarbakir had spoken in support of Block’s candidate Hatip Dicle. “When I was a student I remember Hatip Dicle and Orhan Do?an work. These are people who have commited their life to the Kurdish people and the struggle for peace and freedom. And for this the state try to silence them”.
Walking and talking to people on the street and in the shops, Baydemir stressed that “the only way forward is dialogue. People should accept and respect each other’s ideas, beliefs, languages”. That’s why, Baydemir concluded “we do believe in this process and we will bring it forward, because peace and dialogue is the only way”.

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