WASHINGTON DC- Selahattin Demirtaş, the co-chairman of the pro-Kurdish Peoples Democratic Party (HDP) of Turkey who has received worldwide praise for his liberal views, appeared more as a Kurdish nationalist on Thursday as he addressed members of the Kurdish community here in the U.S. capital.
“Although maybe it’s not perfectly complete yet,” said the 42-year-old Kurdish politician through a Turkish-English translator, “I can say we have achieved a lot in terms of national unity.”
"From Mahabad, Sina, Qamishli, Jazira, Afrin, Erbil, Kirkuk, Sinjar, Amed, to Van, we all have our heart in one place and are looking in the same direction. In my view, in this 21st century, we have reached a very great point to take our seat in the family of honorable nations, to live as our nation,” added Demirtaş.
Demirtaş, who is seen as a great challenge to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his ambitions for accumulating power, did not say explicitly whether his party’s agenda has changed from working for a democratic but united Turkey to establishing an independent Kurdistan.
His words, however, including references to Kurdish cities of Iraq, Iran, Syria and Turkey, resonated more with a pan-Kurdish nationalist than the leftist politician who campaigned hard to win the hearts and minds of all people across the Turkish society ahead of the last elections in November.
“We don’t want anybody else’s land,” emphasized Demirtaş,"We don’t want to take someone else’s property. We just demand what belong to us.”
He added: "The circumstances are ready and the international community - the world community- is ready to understand and comprehend this. The solution of the Kurdish question is key for stability and peace in the Middle East."
The HDP leader received thunderous applause from the mainly Kurdish audience packed into a ceremony hall at Residence Inn, a hotel near the U.S Congress as he spoke of the need for Kurdish unity as they fight the Islamic State (ISIS) terrorists.
It was Demirtaş’s second major appearance on his trip to Washington DC to attend a conference hosted by the Middle East Institute.
The Kurdish leader was also chosen by Foreign Policy magazine as one of its 100 global thinkers.
“Demirtaş broadened the HDP’s appeal, showing it as representing not only Kurdish interests, but also liberalism: women’s and gay’s rights, environmentalism, and opposition to Erdogan’s increasingly authoritarian politics,” wrote Foreign Policy in a brief profile of the leader on its website.
