The People’s Democratic Party (HDP), widely criticized for having links to the PKK terrorist group, is looking to ally with the Green Left Party to compete in Türkiye’s upcoming May 14 elections, according to one of its leaders, amid uncertainty over its future due to an ongoing closure case.
“The Green Left Party is one of our components; they completed their mobilization quickly, and we were going to look for other options if the Green Left Party had been blocked, but we are allying with them for May 14,” co-Chair Mithat Sancar told a live interview Wednesday as debates heat up around the party’s potential collaborations ahead of the anticipated polls.
Hours earlier, the party had confirmed it would not field a presidential candidate of its own for the vote, cementing their support for Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the head of the main opposition’s Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the joint candidate of the six-party opposition bloc Nation Alliance, after they met earlier this week.
Despite the increasing threat of a lawsuit calling for its closure, the HDP has still been considered a critical factor in defining the course of the election campaign since it holds around 10% support nationwide, comprising mainly Kurdish voters.
The party is generally accused of “colluding with the PKK terrorist group and its affiliates, transferring funds to terrorists, and aiming to destroy and eliminate the indivisible integrity of the state with its country and nation.”
Kılıçdaroğlu on Monday met with HDP co-Chairs Sancar and Pervin Buldan at Parliament to garner their support in a one-on-one meeting that stoked claims over the CHP “openly conspiring with terrorists” and drew harsh objections from within the Alliance, most notably the nationalist Good Party (IP), the second-biggest of the six parties.
A renowned lawmaker with IP lashed out on Wednesday at the Nation Alliance for aligning itself with the HDP, saying IP was “humiliated” with the move and arguing the CHP violated an agreement the bloc is using as a road map for the postelection process.
“Not everything can be justified to win an election. However, we will not be under the shadow of terrorism,” Yavuz Ağıralioğlu said at a press briefing at Parliament.
“We will be glad if we can have the vote of citizens who previously voted for the HDP, but all we see are leaders of the HDP who call the state a ‘murderer.’ They made this good seat (of the Presidency) a bargaining chip in the hands of separatists,” Ağıralioğlu said, using a term for the PKK.
For Sancar, Ağıralioğlu’s remarks were “an articulation of the administration’s schemes.”
The HDP leader explained that the Feb. 6 earthquakes, which claimed over 50,000 lives in Türkiye’s southeast, have pushed the party to revalue its methods, “And that’s why we opted not to field our candidate.”
“We expressed in 2021 that we were open to talks with other opposition parties, that we would support the presidential candidate of the table for six if they could settle on a name, but we did not receive any response,” Sancar recalled.
As for the party’s next move at Parliament, namely with the lingering threat of closure, Sancar said, “We wouldn’t get involved with a process that includes the risk of closure, even if it’s one in a million.”
The idea of siding with the CHP leader became an option for the HDP after he was confirmed as the Nation Alliance’s candidate, and pundits say it is likely to come attached with a series of preconditions, namely open dialogue, ministry posts if the opposition wins and the removal of trustees, among other things.
Similarly, a report from the Turkish newspaper Sabah on Wednesday exposed the “deep roots” behind Kılıçdaroğlu and the HDP’s “bargaining” over said terms.
When they came together at the start of the week, Kılıçdaroğlu said the three leaders discussed a variety of issues, including the HDP’s “desire for a democratic solution to the Kurdish problem,” pledged support to the HDP against its closure case, and vowed to remove the trustees appointed to a total of 48 municipalities won by the HDP in 2019 due to elected mayors’ alleged links to terrorism.
Kılıçdaroğlu also mentioned “independence and autonomy” while briefing reporters, sparking criticism that he was “looking for a legal excuse for his divisive policy” and that the six parties “openly committed to signing up for such a dangerous path.”
Sabah’s report revealed that Kılıçdaroğlu’s implicit promise to grant Türkiye’s Kurdish majority provinces self-government if he were to win dates back to 2011.
On every available platform for the past 12 years, the CHP leader has promised autonomy for the HDP’s local administrations, the report said, citing the CHP’s 2018 electoral declaration that directly copies the “European Charter of Local Self-Government” term in the HDP’s 2015 election manifesto.
“I will eliminate all reservations imposed on the European Charter of Local Self-Government. Let local administrations be autonomous,” Kılıçdaroğlu said as he spoke at a rally in the Tunceli province on May 19, 2011.
In Ankara on Sept. 5, 2014, he vowed to “absolutely implement the charter of local self-government under CHP rule.”
HDP Deputy Chair Saruhan Oluç later claimed the six opposition parties “came around to a significant portion of everything we have been saying if you look at the terms in their electoral roadmap.”
Also, according to the report, the trustees appointed in place of HDP administrations, which were discharged for allegedly funneling state funds to the PKK terrorists, rebuilt a total of 11 city centers damaged or destroyed during Operation Trenches, a movement that snowballed from Diyarbakır province in 2015 with calls for autonomy in the region.
Under “Recovery Projects” launched by Erdoğan and carried out by Türkiye’s Housing Development Administration (TOKI), new residences befitting the cities’ traditional architecture were constructed. At the same time, schools and shops destroyed by handmade explosives were revived, allowing some 300,000 locals who were forced to flee due to the trenches to return to their homes.
Good Party or opposition supporters weren’t the only ones shunning Kılıçdaroğlu’s teaming up with the HDP.
In a live television interview late Wednesday, President Erdoğan criticized the bloc for “covertly striking a deal” with the HDP, arguing that the party “clearly proves its cooperation by not nominating a presidential candidate.”
“The HDP is equal to the PKK terrorist group and its Syrian offshoots YPG and PYD,” Erdoğan said. “PKK ringleaders in Mount Qandil are the masterminds of HDP’s requests, and they have openly said that the table for six gives them hope.”
