Co-chair of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Mithat Sancar said that a large proportion of Kurdish Justice and Development Party (AKP) voters are gradually moving towards the HDP for Turkey’s 2023 elections in an interview conducted by Gazete Karınca.
Mithat Sancar spoke about many issues on Turkey’s agenda, from the changing tendencies of Kurdish voters to the distance of the main opposition alliance, the Table of Six, to the Kurds, from President Erdoğan’s growing unlawfulness to applications for a meeting with Abdullah Öcalan in İmralı island.
In response to a question regarding recent Kurdish voter reactions against the policies of the AKP, Sancar said that the alliance of the AKP with the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) is causing intensified war policies and polarisation, making Kurdish voters uneasy.
“At the same time as insisting on anti-Kurdish policies, they are making one statement after the other that will also anger more conservative Kurds. Erdoğan’s words about the number of children are just the latest example of this.” said Sancar.
“Our research also reveals that some of the votes of Kurds who break away from the AKP or tend to break away from the AKP are turning to the HDP.” added Sancar.
The co-chair also mentioned the attitude of the main opposition alliance saying that they do not have a systematic and comprehensive Kurdish policy and that is why Kurds will not vote for them during the 2023 elections.
Answering the question about what Erdoğan will do if he thinks he will lose the elections, Sancar said that the government is working to create a perception and feeling of anxiety and hopelessness on opposition voters in a manipulative way, using a method of psychological warfare.
Nevertheless, Sancar said that the AKP has created a dual state formation in which there are unlawful areas where the actual law is suspended on one side, and there is seemingly a law mechanism used by the state.
Mithat Sancar also commented about Erdoğan’s comments that stirred heated debates saying “Look at the PKK, they have five, 10, 15 children each.”
“It should be known that the state coalition that Erdoğan is currently in is a structure that will take all the old mentalities of the past in Kurdish politics to a much higher level. Therefore, it is necessary to see that these words directly target the Kurds,” said Sancar.
Responding to Turkey’s alleged use of chemical weapons, Sancar said that not only the Kurds, but all the peoples of Turkey are paying a heavy price for the continued security approach and war policies that has left the Kurdish problem unsolved.
Sancar also briefly responded to a question about the application to the Ministry of Justice to visit Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader imprisoned in İmralı island. and he said that they are awaiting a response from the ministry.
As the elections approach in Turkey, Turkey’s main polling company Metropoll said that no candidate can win without the support from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP).
