Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) plans to boost its support among Kurdish voters before the upcoming elections, according to sources close to senior AKP officials, the Turkish newspaper Milliyet reports.
The party intends to take new steps to win back the support of Kurdish voters, particularly those who are religious. The pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democracy Party (HDP), which holds 10-12 percent of the vote, is considered a potential kingmaker in the coming elections, but the opposition Nation Alliance has yet to decide whether to engage with the party, fearing loss of the nationalist vote.
The Milliyet reported that senior AKP officials will monitor the HDP’s stance towards the Nation Alliance closely as the elections approach. The party plans to listen carefully to regional deputies, select the right candidates, use appropriate language and avoid misinterpretations to win back support from religious Kurds.
Meanwhile, the Turkish Constitutional Court is in the process of hearing a case that aims to shut down the HDP over alleged links to Kurdish militants, which the party denies. It is unclear when the verdict will be issued, but the court has already frozen the party’s bank accounts, and denied an HDP request to postpone the ruling until after the elections. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is expected to emphasise the HDP’s alleged ties to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) during the campaign.
