All eyes are on Turkey, which is witnessing presidential and parliamentary elections on the 14th of this month, while the conflict rages between the current President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has ruled the country for nearly 20 years, and Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the candidate of the Turkish opposition. The Kurds may play it in the imminent elections.
“Al-Dustour” reviews in the following lines the most important information about the Peoples’ Democratic Party and the Kurdish minority in Turkey.
– The HDP is considered a kingmaker in the country’s upcoming elections.
– The party’s failure to nominate a candidate confuses the accounts of the Justice and Development Party and President Erdogan.
– This move allows HDP supporters to vote for Erdogan’s rival.
– The party is opposition, and therefore the votes of its supporters may go to Kilicdaroglu.
– The former leader of the Peoples’ Party, Selahattin Demirtas, has been imprisoned for about 7 years.
The party faces possible closure by a court on suspicion of collusion with the PKK.
– The HDP has not yet announced whether it will put its weight and vote for Davutoglu or not.
– Western reports indicate that the position of the Peoples’ Democratic Party is the key to the outcome of the vote.
The Kurds are the largest minority in Türkiye. They make up between 15% and 20% of the population.
– The authorities in Turkey accuse the Peoples’ Democratic Party of being linked to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is classified as a terrorist organization.