Önder Declared As Istanbul Mayor Candidate

People’s Democratic Party (HDP) co-chairs Sebahat Tuncel and Ertuğrul Kürkçü held a press conference, declaring their prep work to the upcoming municipal elections in March 2014. 

While Tuncel underlined that the continuation of peace process and the need for a new constitution must not be sacrificed for the elections, Kürkçü announced Sırrı Süreyya Önder as their Istanbul mayor candidate.  

Candidates for Izmir and Ankara, on the other hand, will be determined by people’s initiative, they declared. They also added that they will run also under HDP in Malatya, Erzincan and Maraş, and under BDP in Mersin. 

“The man who threw himself in front of bulldozer” 

Kürkçü said that people had the demand to put the “man who threw himself in front of bulldozer” and they responded it by making Sırrı Süreyya Önder their Istanbul mayor candidate. 

“Against the parties of the order, by which I mean AKP and CHP, we will come up with oppressed people’s representatives. Therefore, Sırrı Süreyya Önder is our IStanbul candidate. We will rise from every corner of Turkey.”

Önder: CHP’s Gezi Hypothec Can’t Be Accepted

“My candidacy is a response to those who are awaiting for support under the table but not explicitly,” Sırrı Süreyya Önder said. 

“There is no such party like CHP that has no effort for getting votes. In a way, they put hypothec on votes. No leftist can no longer CHP’s hypocrisy on urban rights, Kurdish issue and labor issues. CHP’s Gezi hypothec can’t be accepted. 

“The blood shed on Gezi has spilled into Istanbul mayor Kadir Topbaş. I am calling to the people: Please slap the mentality that contempts voting. Slap it so hard that it would be heard from the U.S.” (EKN/BM)