Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) and Green Left Party announced their decision for the second round of elections. HDP Co-Chair Pervin Buldan called the citizens to the ballot box. While Buldan called for Kurdish voters to topple the “strong man regime”, she did not mention Kılıçdaroğlu by name.
With Turkey’s runoff election days away, opposition candidate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu secured a critical endorsement yesterday from Victory Party chair Ümit Özdağ, an ultranationalist whose primary focus is deporting 13 million refugees that currently reside in Turkey. Mr. Özdağ’s endorsement was a risky gambit for Kılıçdaroğlu however, as backing from ultranationalists could cost Kurdish votes due to decades of tension between Kurds and nationalists in Turkey.
Upon Kılıçdaroğlu and Özdağ’s meeting yesterday (May 25th), the leaders released a 7 article memorandum of understanding, chiefly touching on illegal immigration, but also included a critical point weaving to continue appointing trustees in places of elected officials should they be deemed to be connected to terrorist organizations; a practice the ruling government has employed liberally in majority Kurdish provinces to oust Kurdish rule.
Upon the release of the memorandum, The Green Left Party and HDP officials held an emergency meeting to discuss if support for Kılıçdaroğlu would continue. A written statement was released after the meeting, stating:
“We have always stated that practices that are incompatible with universal principles of democracy and law are at the root of the problems experienced in our country. In particular, trustee policies that destroy the will of the people and local democracy are at the forefront of these practices. Trustee appointments that usurp the will of the people are unacceptable and our position on this matter remains unchanged.”
The parties went on to state that they would announce their final decision the following day.
Earlier today Green Left Party and HDP held a joint press conference chaired by Buldan. While Buldan did not offer a full throated endorsement of Kılıçdaroğlu, she went on to stress the critical goal of toppling Erdoğan’s government, saying:
“The demand for democratic change was strongly displayed at the ballot box in the May 14th elections. Today, millions vote for democracy.Erdogan has never been an option for us. The only option is to curb him and his power. We are hopeful that we can achieve this together on May 28th (runoff election date). We believe this wholeheartedly. We will go to the ballot box and topple the strong-man regime.”
No support for Kılıçdaroğlu from People’s Voice Party
While the Green Left and HDP chose to stay the course and continue support for Kılıçdaroğlu, not everyone is backing the opposition. Speaking to Medyascope’s Ferit Aslan, Turkey’s Voice Party Chair Ayhan Bilgen. Bilgen is the former HDP Mayor of Kars who was replaced by a trustee. Bilgen has been detained in the past and has been the subject of multiple investigations by the government.
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He was arrested for taking part in Kobani protests in 2014, large nation-wide demonstrations in support of YPG forces defending the Syrian town of Kobani against ISIS. He was arrested in spring 2017 and released in September of the same year. He was elected the Mayor of Kars in 2019, however was deposed and arrested in 2020 under sweeping trustee appointees to Kurdish provinces. He left HDP in 2021 to establish the People’s Voice Party, another majority Kurdish party. Despite his less than positive run-ins with the ruling government however, Bilgen says his party will put its weight behind Erdoğan.
Bilgen stated that while the party had not arrived at a decision on who to endorse in the first round of the presidential elections, many in the party had rallied behind Erdoğan for the runoff.
“While some of our party members want to endorse not AKP or the People’s Alliance Coalition but Erdoğan, while others maintain that we should remain neutral. But no one supports Kılıçdaroğlu. It doesn’t appear as though the opposition is a better option than the ruling coalition. We have been criticizing the opposition’s strategy from the start. And after May 29th (elections) we will criticize and oppose Erdoğan. This race has been between Erdoğan supporters and Erdoğan opponents. We have always maintained that this is a poor strategy.”
