Kurdish politician Ayhan Bilgen launches new party after leaving HDP

Photo: MA/File

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Chaired by Ayhan Bilgen, formerly a prominent figure of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), the Voice of Turkey Party (SES Party) has submitted a petition of establishment to the Ministry of Justice.

Müslüm Doğan, a Kurdish politician who served as the minister of development in the 2015 interim government of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), led the party members who submitted the petition yesterday (March 31).

Speaking to reporters in front of the ministry, Doğan said they had decided to establish a new party after six months of work as "Turkey needs a new political ground."

He asserted that the opposition parties "can't produce policies" in the face of a situation where "law and justice are suspended."

"The party we have founded is a democratic party that seeks democracy. It doesn't have a political stance against any party, nor it's the continuation of any party," said Doğan.

The party's logo includes a white dove with an olive branch, very similar to the logo of the Democratic Left Party (DSP), once a major party in the left of the political spectrum.

Bilgen and the HDP

Bilgen, the chair of the party, resigned from the HDP in December after becoming vocal about his disapproval of the party's political line.

As a member of the HDP, he served as an MP from Kars province between November 2015 and June 2018 and was elected the mayor of Kars in the March 2019 local election.

In October 2020, Bilgen was remanded in custody as part of a government crackdown on HDP mayors in the country's predominantly Kurdish-populated eastern and southeastern regions.

Shortly after, the Ministry of Interior dismissed him as the mayor and appointed a trustee instead, citing a "terrorism-related" investigation against him.

CLICK - Opposition must understand people's fears, says Bilgen

He was released in June 2020 but is still facing charges in the Kobanî trial, where more than 100 members of the HDP are standing trial for having allegedly organized the deadly 2014 Kobanî protests.

After his release from prison, he became self-critical about his party, alleging that a clique was asserting control over the country for their "personal interests."

HDP problems with reaching more people arose from the way it is managed, he had asserted. (HA/VK)