DEM Party open to form alliances in local elections given common 'democratic' principles

Duvar English

Turkey's opposition People’s Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party co-chair Tuncer Bakırhan stated on Dec. 17 that the party is willing to collaborate in the upcoming local elections with anyone that shares their principles of “democratic compromise” and “politics of emancipation,” during the third extraordinary congress of the party’s İzmir branch.

“We are open to collaboration with all social sectors that advocate for the freedom of women, that oppose the commodification of the environment, believe in universal human rights, and abide by the rule of law,” said Bakırhan.

Bakırhan defined the upcoming local elections as “historical,” and added that the party’s priority was to depose any trustee mayors. 

“We will take back the infamously corrupt municipalities held by Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Kurdistan, and appoint candidates in Western provinces by consulting workers, peoples, Alevis, and the poor,” Bakırhan described the party’s local election strategy. 

Bakırhan said that the Kurdish issue was a problem of denial and that its resolution would intrinsically help with Turkey’s poverty and unemployment problems, according to reporting by the Mesopotamia Agency. 

“We demand recognition of the Kurds’ status as the founding elements of this land,” added Bakırhan.

He drew parallels between the infrastructural neglect and habitat destruction in the Aegean İzmir province and the Kurdish-majority Eastern provinces. “This government neglected treated İzmir as a stepchild, just like it did Amed (Diyarbakır),” said the co-chair, and emphasized the importance of a united front during the upcoming local elections in March.

The co-chair stated that the government kept ignoring and denying the Kurdish language, and the government ally Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) targeted Kurds as a “national security risk.”

The co-chair said that the party showed its political influence in the past general elections, despite the ruling AKP’s insistence on the Dem Party’s irrelevance. 

“We must stand united against these oppressive politics during the local elections and thus nullify them,” concluded Bakırhan.  

Selahattin Demirtaş, the imprisoned previous co-chair of the then-People’s Democratic Party (HDP) on Dec. 17 also said that anyone wishing for a victory in the local elections had to take DEM Party’s demands and expectations into account, according to reporting by Medyascope.