Imprisoned Kurdish politician Selahattin Demirtaş has declared his decision to retire from active politics, stating that while he continues his struggle from prison, he acknowledges his shortcomings and aims to overcome them through practical efforts.
Demirtaş, the former co-chair of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), has been held in Edirne F Type Prison since 4 November 2016. In a tweet, he expressed gratitude for constructive criticism and apologised for not presenting a policy worthy of the people, promising to learn from the criticism.
“Greetings. I am sharing with you two paragraphs from my interview that will be published tomorrow [on Thursday] in Artı Gerçek:” he said. “On my own behalf, I would like to offer my sincere apologies for not being able to present a policy that truly reflects the aspirations of our people. However, I want to assure you that I am committed to addressing these shortcomings through practical efforts and actions.”
“I would also like to express my gratitude for the constructive criticism I have received. I am determined to learn from this feedback and make improvements accordingly. While I will continue my struggle from prison with the same unwavering determination as my comrades, I have made the decision to step away from active politics at this point,” he continued.
Demirtaş expressed his heartfelt comradely greetings and love to everyone, accompanied by a sense of longing for them. In his message, he expressed his hope to meet them “in days of freedom”.
In his article, “Parliamentary elections for the HDP: Why did this happen?” published today, Wednesday, in Artı Gerçek, Selahattin Demirtaş reflects on the recent election process and discusses the factors that contributed to the outcome. He acknowledges that the ruling party utilised state resources, conducted a smear campaign, and applied tricky electoral tactics. However, he emphasises that attributing the HDP’s lack of success solely to these factors would be oversimplifying the situation.
Demirtaş analyses the results of the parliamentary elections at a provincial and constituency level and notes that the HDP’s share of the vote decreased in 87 constituencies. While he believes that a comprehensive discussion within the party is necessary to understand the reasons behind this decline, he shares some general observations.
Beyond state-sponsored obstacles
Demirtaş emphasises that the Kurdish political movement goes beyond elections, representing a broader struggle for the resolution of the Kurdish question. “We have been through a very important election process. A group that has taken over the state has used all the means of the state with no restrictions, conducted a huge smear campaign with no morals, and played games at the ballot box. However, it would be simplistic to attribute our party’s lack of success in the parliamentary elections to these things alone,” he states.
Sloppy and disorganised election campaign
Demirtaş admits that the movement was late in realising the importance of the recent elections. He criticises the party’s election work, stating, “Our party only started working on the elections a month before polling day, and even that was only in the form of a sloppy and disorganised effort.”
Demirtaş acknowledges the need for self-criticism within the HDP, including his own shortcomings. He expresses disappointment with the lack of harmony and cooperation within the party and emphasises the importance of understanding and countering the perception management operations carried out by the Justice and Development Party (AKP) / Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) regime.
The AKP/MHP strategy: Consolidating power over five years
In contrast, Demirtaş points out that the government of the AKP and the MHP had been strategising and preparing for the elections for five years. He criticises the government’s use of state resources for propaganda purposes and the construction of an AKP-style Turkishness based on nationalism and nativism. According to Demirtaş, this has led to a cultural collapse and the formation of a mass of people who adhered to injustice, corruption, and slander. “The AKP/MHP government, on the other hand, has been carrying out a kind of engineering for the last five years as part of the strategy implemented since 2014, that is, since the day the collapse plan started to be implemented,” he writes.
“In a country with 63 million voters, if you say, ‘We will exceed 15 per cent in the parliamentary elections and we will ensure that the opposition candidate exceeds 50 per cent in the presidential elections’, you will not be able to succeed with an amateurish, unprofessional approach, like the election work of a local association, launched one month before the elections,” he criticises.
Sociological fractures: understanding Turkey’s changing landscape
The article emphasises the need for the Kurdish political movement to analyse the sociological fractures within Turkish society and accurately comprehend the changes and fractures within the Kurdish community. Demirtaş highlights the negative impact of the AKP/MHP’s actions on the Kurdish middle class and the rise of individuals who prioritise slogans over substance. “The democratic Kurdish political movement has failed to analyse the sociological fractures in the society of Turkey in general, and is far from reading the changes and fractures in the Kurdish people correctly,” he states. “If this picture is not analysed well, the decline will continue. From now on, we need to make every topic from micro-level to macro-level problems of society the main agenda and produce policies for organisation and solution.”
Moving beyond slogans: Embracing democratic modernity
Demirtaş concludes by stressing the importance of moving beyond sloganeering and offering an alternative vision of democratic modernity. He calls for a comprehensive restructuring process within the HDP, ensuring that criticisms and suggestions are constructive and contribute to the party’s labour and construction process. “No one can advance further with sloganeering. If you cannot explain democratic modernity to a people who have been so exposed to capitalist modernity and if you cannot offer an alternative, beautiful and honourable life with its institutions, social collapse will be inevitable,” he argues.
Constructive criticism and renewal
Demirtaş emphasises the importance of not taking lightly the opportunistic detractors who eagerly lie in wait and attack the pro-Kurdish party, without giving them undue significance. Critiques lacking constructive elements and failing to contribute to the laborious process of development and progress hold no value. Demirtaş underscores the need to give due consideration to this aspect as well.
