TURKEY-ELECTION/PREVIEW Turkey's pro-Kurdish HDP bets on new voters to exceed threshold in June polls

Record ID: 149911

  • Title: TURKEY-ELECTION/PREVIEW Turkey's pro-Kurdish HDP bets on new voters to exceed threshold in June polls
  • Date: 2nd June 2015
  • Summary: ANTALYA, TURKEY (MAY 25, 2015) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Turkish) HDP CO-CHAIRMAN SELAHATTIN DEMIRTAS, SAYING: "In the previous parliament the AK Party was very strong and was able to impose its will: 'We will do this if what I say goes. If what I say doesn't happen then I won't accept it.' But if it's weaker in the coming period and the HDP is much stronger, it will be easie
  • Embargoed: 17th June 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Turkey
  • Country: Turkey
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA7Z63W6KA512NW4TTK8OHH5EMK
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Turkey's People's Democratic Party (HDP) is betting on newfound appeal beyond its Kurdish base to propel it into parliament for the first time, threatening to deprive the ruling party of critical seats in June elections.
    While small, the HDP could play a significant role in the parliamentary polls, given that the AK Party founded by President Tayyip Erdogan needs a sweeping victory to change the constitution and broaden his presidential powers.
    HDP co-chairman Selahattin Demirtas said June elections would lack legitimacy if a threshold for parliamentary representation deprived it of representation, but it would remain a partner in peace talks with militants.
    "I am certain that we will surpass the threshold. I have no doubt but in the event (that we don't), we are a part of a peace and resolution process, we are a partner, we are in it. When we couldn't enter the parliament before 2007, we still fought for peace and we were its interlocutors. Entering parliament in 2007 merely eased our work," the party's co-chair Selahattin Demirtas said in an interview in the southern city of Antalya.
    The leftist HDP has been a key interlocutor in Erdogan's peace efforts with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group, aimed at ending an insurgency in the mainly Kurdish southeast that has killed 40,000 people over three decades.
    Turkish nationalists accuse the HDP of links to the PKK, and Erdogan and the AKP are wary of losing those votes because of their advances on the peace process.
    Demirtas criticised the government's rhetoric and accused the ruling party of hypocrisy.
    "The government adopts a rhetoric to create prejudice and trigger criticism against us. They introduce us as a political party that has links with terrorists. They introduce us a political party that is affiliated with violence. Of course, this is very unfair. Because PKK, that has been branded as a terrorist organisation by the government has been in dialogue with the government for three and a half years. Therefore, labelling the PKK as a violent terrorist organisation during the pre-election period and resuming talks with them after the elections is merely hypocrisy and society acknowledges this hypocrisy," he said.
    The fate of the HDP, which hopes to cross the 10 percent national vote threshold to enter parliament on June 7, will be critical not just for the Kurdish minority but also for the political future of President Tayyip Erdogan.
    Should the HDP cross the barrier, it could take 50 seats from the ruling AK Party, potentially causing the AKP to lose its majority and be forced to form either a coalition or minority government.
    That would make it more difficult for the AKP to pass constitutional changes Erdogan wants, in order to create a powerful executive presidency.
    "In the previous parliament the AK Party was very strong and was able to impose its will: 'We will do this if what I say goes. If what I say doesn't happen then I won't accept it.' But if it's weaker in the coming period and the HDP is much stronger, it will be easier to draft a new constitution that guarantees fundamental rights and freedoms. This is our basic goal. Everything hinges on HDP strengthening," Demirtas said.
    Kurdish parties have in the past run candidates as independents to skirt the threshold. Now the HDP is seeking to broaden its appeal beyond its Kurdish base and propel itself into the legislature.
    Analysts say should HDP fail to surpass the threshold, the dynamics of peace talks might change.
    "Whether HDP surpasses the threshold or not may not only change many political balances in Turkey, it also has the potential to change the political stances that will be taken for the peace process. As a matter of fact, both the President and the Prime Minister said if HDP will not exceed the threshold, the interlocutors of the peace process will be reviewed. If HDP surpasses the threshold, its legitimacy will probably be empowered and its position in the peace talks will be strengthened but if it will fail, its role in peace talks will be reviewed. New mechanisms will be needed," a law professor at Dicle University Vahap Coskun said.
    Should it fail, there will be no representatives of pro-Kurdish opposition parties in parliament. Kurds make up an estimated 20 percent of a population of 77 million people.
    On the streets of Diyarbakir, residents believed a lack of representation in parliament might create a crisis.
    "The existence of a threshold is a blow to democracy. I wish the threshold never existed or it would be lower but in anycase, it is very courageous for HDP to run as a political party. I hope they surpass the threshold within a democratic framework, the government has already taken them as interlocutors, I hope this will continue," Ramazan Bayrak said.
    "This election is (important) not only for Kurds but for all democratic people. If Kurds win, that victory will bring peace to all the Turkish people. If HDP does not exceed the threshold, Turkey will face a stalemate. It will enter a dangerous finish (road). A very dangerous one," Ferzande Lale added.
    Ankara has been pushing for the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) to lay down its arms as part of the peace process ahead of polling day, and its jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan said last month it was time to end an armed struggle that has killed 40,000 people.
    The government has stepped up its rhetoric against the HDP, saying it tried to use recent clashes between Turkish soldiers and Kurdish militants to whip up anti-government sentiment and gain Kurdish votes from the AK party.
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