Turkey’s centre-right opposition Good Party (İYİ) has no objection to the opposition’s Nation Alliance engaging in dialogue with the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), its leader Meral Akşener said in a live broadcast on Tuesday.
Akşener called for respect for inter-party relationships in the country, and said the prevalent discriminatory discourse over ethnic identities in Turkey is sourced in the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).
İYİ’s priorities are respect for human rights and rule of law, the unity of the country, and the first four articles of the constitution, Akşener said. The articles in question define Turkey as a unitary state “loyal to Atatürk nationalism”, with Turkish as the language of the state.
Meanwhile, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader and the joint presidential candidate for the opposition alliance, is expected to visit the HDP headquarters soon, according to CHP Deputy Chairman Özgür Özel.
The HDP is not part of the Nation Alliance, but has signalled that it could lend its support to the joint candidate if there was agreement on principles. Co-chair Mithat Sancar recently repeated that the party could refrain from fielding its own candidate in favour of a roadmap for the country’s democratic transformation. The party’s stance is key in the election as both the opposition bloc and the ruling People’s Alliance poll at similar levels and below the required 50 percent plus one to elect a president in the first round.