"Our party will support Pedro Sanchez for presidency in Socialist International", - Temirlan Sultanbekov

The editors of the April TV channel contacted the chairman of the Social Democrats party about the upcoming congress of the Socialist International in Madrid on November 25-27.

- Dear Temirlan, on the eve of the congress of the Socialist International, we would like to ask you what agenda the Social Democrats party is going to this event with?

We are certainly convinced that there is a lack of freedom and democracy in Kyrgyzstan. Every day the pressure on the media and opposition politicians and activists only increases. We want the Congress of the Socialist International, where more than 100 international parties are represented, to declare the inadmissibility of such an attitude towards freedom of speech as in our country.

At the same time, the congress of the Socialist International will decide on the issue of new important personnel appointments. Our party will unambiguously support the candidacy of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez for the presidency of the Socialist International.

⁃ At the last summit of the CIS, Black Sea and Caucasus parties, you also mentioned the border conflict with Tajikistan. Will this issue also come up?

Yes, we will definitely raise it. Moreover, as you know, the last summit in Astana condemned the construction of Iranian plant for the production of military drones in Tajikistan. I also want to point out that we do not consider what happened in September to be an ordinary border conflict - there was an overt attempt at a full-scale invasion of Kyrgyzstan. We also reflected this in the report that we plan to present at the congress.

What is the position of the Socialist International towards political prisoners in Kyrgyzstan?

The Socialist International is determined. As you probably remember, in July 63 political parties issued a joint statement demanding the release of Almazbek Atambayev, and I think that with the new president of the Socialist International - Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez - this policy will continue and become even more insistent.

The recent arrests of more than 28 politicians and civil activists will also not go unnoticed by the Socialist International.