Pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP) will announce its decision on 14 May presidential elections on Wednesday following a consultation meeting with other left-wing parties in the Labour and Freedom alliance, the Turkish media reported.
Since other parties in the alliance have already expressed that they are in favour of supporting Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the chairman of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) that leads the six-party Nation Alliance as presidential candidate, the HDP’s decision will be crucial for the Labour and Freedom Alliance’s election strategy.
The HDP’s position was discussed at a meeting on Monday in the Turkish parliament between the CHP delegation, headed by Kılıçdaroğlu, and the HDP delegation, headed by co-chairs Pervin Buldan and Mithat Sancar.
While several reports in the Turkish opposition media indicate that the HDP is close to supporting Kılıçdaroğlu in challenging the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, what this support will look like is still uncertain.
The HDP is discussing two options, according to journalist İsmail Saymaz. The party may decide not to field their own presidential candidate in the elections, an option that will signal implicit support for Kılıçdaroğlu, or the HDP could openly declare that they will back the CHP’s presidential candidate.
The latter option might enable the pro-Kurdish party to easier mobilise voters, however it would also likely escalate attacks on Kılıçdaroğlu by the Turkish government and pro-government media, who have already voiced that Kılıçdaroğlu would effectively receive support from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party’s (PKK) via the HDP.
HDP sources told Artı Gerçek news that Monday’s meeting with Kılıçdaroğlu has created a positive atmosphere within the party. The CHP leader touched on every subject in the HDP’s election position document, a source in the party told Artı Gerçek.
The CHP leader did not openly request HDP’s support for presidential elections, Gazete Duvar reported. Contrary to previous reports in the pro-government media, the two parties also did not engage in negotiations on ministerial positions for the HDP in Kılıçdaroğlu’s possible future cabinet, it said.
The election security, which has been widely discussed in opposition outlets in recent days, was among the issues raised by the delegations of the two parties.
The HDP officials particularly stressed possible issues that could emerge in terms of election security, especially in Kurdish populated provinces, if the country’s Constitutional Court closes down the HDP ahead of elections. In order to bypass this risk, the HDP discussed running candidates under the Green and Left Party.
The HDP officials also brought forward the Kurdish Question, which was totally ignored in the joint political documents prepared by six parties in the Nation Alliance, Artı Gerçek said.
The leaders of both parties firmly told the media on Monday that the Kurdish question should be resolved in Turkey’s parliament, during a press conference organised after the meeting.
