The Kurdish Alliance for Freedom and Democracy, formed by the Green Left Party with other pro-Kurdish political parties in Turkey, announced on Wednesday that it will support the opposition candidate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu in the presidential run-off vote in order to create a political ground for the Kurdish people to attain their rights, to create a climate where all problems can be freely discussed, and to normalise the political process.
Stating that they believe in the power of democratic politics and insist on the desire to live under democratic conditions, the Alliance said that the presidential election makes it possible to end the oppressive and marginalising one-man regime. “We invite our people to take a stance in favour of change in this historical test.”
The announcement from the Kurdish Alliance came after far-right Zafer (Victory) Party leader Ümit Özdağ declared support for Kılıçdaroğlu.
Kılıçdaroğlu and Özdağ signed a protocol outlining the principles of their cooperation. The protocol includes a provision stating that mayors will be replaced by state-appointed trustees if there is any legal evidence of their involvement in terrorism.
The protocol’s stance on replacing mayors with trustees caused some debate, as following the 2019 local elections, many mayors from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) were replaced by state-appointed trustees after being detained on terrorism charges. In their programme, Kılıçdaroğlu’s six-party alliance pledged to put an end to this practice, emphasising that elected officials should remain in office unless convicted by a court.
It is worth noting that there is a subtle distinction between the current practice and the protocol, as the latter suggests that such convicted local administrators can be dismissed from mayoral positions only by judicial ruling rather than by governmental decree, as has been the case currently.
The HDP, which ran in the elections under the banner of the Green Left Party (YSP) due to an ongoing threat of closure by the courts, strongly supported Kılıçdaroğlu in the first round of the presidential election, in which the opposition candidate won the highest percentage of the vote in Kurdish-majority provinces.
Emphasising that Kurdish rights have been manipulated and equated to the security issue, the alliance said that a democratic regime and a normalised social life were not possible without the solution of the Kurdish conflict. “The prerequisite for the democratisation of Ankara is the liberation of Amed [Diyarbakır],” the Alliance said, adding that democratic and peaceful politics is what will ensure this.
“One of the most important steps to achieve this is to end the current arbitrary and monstrous presidential system of government,” the statement concluded.
