HDP will continue to support Kılıçdaroğlu in presidential race

Duvar English

Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) co-chairs Pervin Buldan and Green Left Party (YSP) co-spokespeople Çiğdem Kılıçgün and İbrahim Akın on May 25 announced that they will continue to support opposition Nation Alliance’s presidential candidate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu.

The HDP entered the May 14 elections under the lists of the YSP due to the closure case it is facing.

In a press statement at the HDP headquarters in the capital Ankara, the politicians said that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan “is never an option for us and the only option is to change him and the rulership he represents.”

HDP co-chair Buldan said, “We will all go to the ballot boxes and we will, in unison, will change the one-man regime. Our power and millions’ desire for change is our biggest source of inspiration.”

HDP co-chair Sancar said, “We believe that in the second round (of the presidential race), desire and will for change will prevail. Our call is explicit: Everyone should go to the ballot boxes.”

The statement came a day after Kılıçdaroğlu and far-right Victory Party (ZP) leader Ümit Özdağ signed a seven-point protocol, leading to concerns that the HDP might boycott the election as the protocol makes a mention of mayors dismissed by the central government.

The fourth article in the relevant protocol reads “the practice of appointing state officials instead of local administrators whose links with terrorism are proven by legal evidence will continue within the framework of judicial decision,” leading to some concerns, especially among HDP voters.

Buldan touched upon the protocol and said they also evaluated it during their meeting. “Those placing collateral on Kurds’ political will via trustees, are again those who are placing collateral on the rights and freedoms of the whole Turkey people. The deadlock of the Kurdish problem is not for the benefit of the society,” Buldan said.

Buldan also touched upon the protocol’s controversial article on refugees. She said that it is “wrong and inhumane to turn migrants and refugees into the political interests’ material.” “Those responsible for this picture are not the victimized migrants or refugees, but the rulership who insisted directly on war policies and instrumentalized the refugees for economic or political benefits.”

Buldan was referring to the protocol’s article 3 which reads, “All asylum seekers and fugitives, especially Syrians, will be sent back to their countries within one year at the latest.”