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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Fresh off victory in Sunday’s Turkish parliament election, People's Democratic Party (HDP) Co-Chairman Selahattin Demirtas spoke out Tuesday against forming a coalition government with the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), saying the HDP will discuss other options.
“The situation that we are clear on is that we will not be in a coalition with the AKP. What kind of alternatives will we have in that case? We will be discussing all of these alternatives,” Demirtas said in his remarks to reporters at Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport on Tuesday before his departure to Ankara.
Demirtas said a coalition between the AKP and the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), which is in second place after the AKP as it has 25 percent of the vote, first needs to be discussed.
“While voting, the nation also asked for this, an AKP-CHP coalition. The nation chose the first and second party and that points at something. We need to see the course of discussions. As the HDP, we want everyone to know that we are aware of the responsibility that the nation laid on our shoulders and we will carry it,” Demirtas said.
When asked about the possibility of a coalition proposal coming from another party, Demirtas replied saying they would look at all options if a proposal came. The HDP leader said the party is aware of the responsibility that it assumed and will not let any instability, chaos, tension or insecurity prevail in the country.
The AKP, co-founded and led by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, won about 41 percent of the votes in Sunday's general election, according to unofficial results. The main opposition CHP got 25 percent and is projected to take 131 seats in parliament. The Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) appears set to secure 16.5 percent of the votes and 82 seats in Parliament, while the pro-Kurdish HDP won 13 percent in a stunning success that will give it some 80 seats.
All of the opposition political parties have spoken out against a coalition with the AKP in statements after election results showed it is set to take 258 seats, well below the minimum required to form a government on its own in the 550-seat Parliament.
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