HDP to İYİ Party chair Akşener: ‘Only thing you promise to country is darkness of 1990s’

HDP spokesperson Ebru Günay has slammed İYİ Party leader Meral Akşener over her comments that the İYİ Party “will not sit at a table where the HDP is present.” “Do not worry. The only thing that you promise to this country is the darkness of the 1990s. No HDP member would come to the table that you sit anyway,” Günay said.

Thursday September 08 2022 01:51 pm

This photo shows HDP spokesperson Ebru Günay.

Duvar English

Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) spokesperson Ebru Günay on Sept. 8 held a press meeting at the party’s headquarters, commenting on the discussion that broke out when a lawmaker of the main opposition said that the HDP can be given a ministry if the six-party opposition alliance wins the upcoming general elections.

Günay slammed center-right opposition İYİ (Good) Party leader Meral Akşener over her Sept. 6 remarks that she “will not sit at a table where the HDP is present.”

“Do not worry. The only thing that you promise to this country is the darkness of the 1990s. No HDP member would come to the table that you sit anyway; even they would not drink tea at the coffee house (kıraathane) that you sit at. We have said this several times but let me say it again: The HDP’s table and alliance is known. Our unity is with the Labor and Freedom Alliance. This alliance is the sole address of the real opponents that really want a democratic change and transformation,” Günay said.

Akşener made her reputation as the interior minister during a center-right administration in the 1990s. Now, two decades later, her supporters see her as a counterbalance to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s overwhelming political control.

Tensions between the HDP and İYİ Party escalated after main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) lawmaker Gürsel Tekin on Sept. 4 said that the alliance of six opposition parties might give the HDP a ministry if they win the elections scheduled for June 2023.

The alliance includes the CHP, İYİ Party, Felicity Party, Democrat Party, DEVA Party and Future Party, but excludes the HDP.

CHP MP Gürsel’s remarks were refuted by the party leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu and drew ire among İYİ Party politicians. İYİ Party MP Yavuz Ağıralioğlu reacted by saying, “Who have you asked for this? We would not consent to this,” while Akşener similarly crossed out the possibility of forming an alliance with the HDP.

During the press conference on Sept. 8, Günay said that the HDP does not wish to participate in the Nation (Millet) Alliance as is being tried to be projected.

“We have not entered into any negotiations with any party for a ministry, and we would not do so…We would neither be within the (ruling) People’s (Cumhur) Alliance nor the Nation Alliance, nor would we support these alliances,” she said.