Chairman of the Republican People’s Party of Turkey (CHP) and presidential candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu (C), co-chairmen of the Rights Democracy Party of Turkey (HDP) Pervin Buldan (L) and Mithat Sancar (R) after a meeting in the parliament of Ankar, on March 20, 2023. ADEM-ALTAN
The pro-Kurdish HDP party, Turkey’s third political force, announced on Wednesday that it would not present a presidential candidate on May 14, a decision interpreted as tacit support for the candidate of the opposition alliance who will challenge the president. Recep Tayyip Erdogan. “We will not present a candidate in the next presidential electionsaid HDP (People’s Democratic Party) co-chair Pervin Buldan at a press conference. “Turkey needs reconciliation, not conflictsaid Ms. Buldan. The HDP, whose 2018 presidential candidate finished third with 8.4% of the vote, is seen as the kingmaker of the May poll that polls predict is contested.
Erdogan in trouble
The pro-Kurdish formation, itself allied with micro-parties of the left and far left, was kept away from the opposition coalition, which brings together six political formations, due to the presence within it of the Good Party (nationalist). Less than eight weeks before the presidential election, the announcement of the HDP is seen as likely to weaken the chances of re-election of President Erdogan, who has remained in power for twenty years by taking advantage of the divisions of the opposition.
The Head of State must also face the consequences of the devastating earthquake of February 6 which killed more than 50,000 people in the country. The candidate of the opposition alliance, Kemal Kiliçdaroglu, head of the CHP (Republican People’s Party, Social Democrat), had increased contacts with HDP executives in recent months. On Monday, he spoke with his two co-presidents, Mithat Sancar and Pervin Buldan, committing at the end of their meeting to resolving the “kurdish problemonce elected.
Mr. Kiliçdaroglu notably denounced the “discriminationagainst the Kurdish language in Turkey, as well as the replacement in the Kurdish-majority southeast of the country of dozens of HDP mayors with government-appointed administrators. The HDP is accused by the Turkish government of being linked to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), an armed group described as “terroristby Ankara and its Western allies, and is under threat of a ban for “terrorism“. Selahattin Demirtas, his figurehead, has himself been imprisoned since the end of 2016 for “terrorist propaganda“.
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