The way to build a democratic, free, prosperous and peaceful future for Turkey is to put an end to multiple crises by making pluralistic politics dominant, Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) co-chair Mithat Sancar said on Saturday following the split within the Nation Alliance.
Meral Akşener, leader of the Good Party (İYİP) which is a part of the Nation Alliance, on Friday accused Turkey’s opposition alliance of being “no longer capable of reflecting the will of the people in its decisions”.
As the Kurdish vote is fairly equally divided between the AKP and the left-wing HDP, which Akşener did not want to be allied with, the pro-Kurdish party held a press conference regarding the split.
“No one should doubt that the responsible decisions we will take as the HDP aim to meet the longing and needs of the peoples of Turkey for democracy, equality, justice, freedom and peace. We take action with an understanding that will benefit all 85 million people,” Sancar said.
Following a question based on the Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu’s “we need to invite all colours of the country to this table” statement, Sancar said they had already decided how to act on the presidential candidacy, but the great destruction caused by the earthquakes pushed the HDP to re-evaluate their decision in this process.
“We are making these evaluations both with our committee and our alliance components, and we will continue to do so,” he said.
Noting that the HDP is aware of its responsibilities over the issue, Sancar said that nobody should get desperate and lose confidence. “We are here, we will walk together, we will change it together.”
HDP officials have in the past made statements in favour of Kılıçdaroğlu’s candidacy, but as it stands currently, the party is engaged in a separate Labour and Democracy Alliance with left-wing forces in the country.
