Kurdish voters' choice will determine the outcome of next election, says Demirtaş

Photo: AA/File

Click to read the article in Turkish

The situation of the imprisoned Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) politicians and the closure case against the party will decisively shape the political developments in Turkey, the party's former co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş has said.

Currently, the HDP is facing closure because of its alleged ties to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) as the Constitutional Court accepted an indictment in June. 

Also, some 108 members of the party, including Demirtaş and other senior figures, are facing life sentences for allegedly organizing the deadly "Kobanî protests" in Kurdish-majority provinces in 2014. The Kobanî case is also cited in the indictment of the closure case.

Neither case has anything to do with law, Demirtaş told Medyascope in a written interview.

If the HDP politicians receive sentences and the party is closed, it will shape the political developments, he said. "In such a case, it will be 100 percent clear that the AKP [the ruling Justice and Development Party] will lose.

"We don't have much to lose anymore. We are the ones in a strong and advantageous position because we resisted, we weren't overwhelmed, we weren't defeated and we won. Let those who have a lot to lose think about the rest."

Demirtaş has been in prison for five years despite Constitutional Court and the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) judgments.

HDP voters and the next election

Kurdish voters will determine the fate of the next election, said Demirtaş. "This is a fact and thankfully, the HDP and the Kurds are in favor of democracy. And this situation is a chance for Turkey and the democratization of the republic."

However, he said, no one should take the Kurds' votes for granted. "Those who want to win the Kurds present their political program, if they convince them, they win. But it shouldn't be forgotten that Kurds are very political.

Neither the ruling alliance nor the opposition alliance seems to be able to secure a majority according to opinion polls for the June 2023 election, which makes the HDP voters' choice decisive. 

CLICK - HDP will be a key player 'even if it is closed' 

In the 2018 election, HDP did not join any alliance and Demirtaş, despite being in prison, was the party's presidential candidate. The HDP and Demirtaş received 11.70 percent and 8.40 percent of the votes, respectively.

In the 2019 local elections, the HDP did not nominate a candidate in major cities, including the capital Ankara and İstanbul, and supported the opposition. The opposition candidates took over both cities that had been governed by the AKP and its predecessors for 25 years. (DŞ/VK)