ANKARA, Turkey - Voters in Turkey’s snap general elections on Sunday sent a protest to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) by refusing to vote for the pro-Kurdish HDP party, analysts said.
Less than six months since inconclusive elections in June, Turkey’s Rights and Freedoms Party (HAK-PAR), which supports a federal Kurdish state in Turkey, doubled its votes from 56,645 in June to 110,161 in the weekend polls.
Two experts said that those who voted for HAK-PAR came from the People’s Democratic Party (HDP), which lost votes in Sunday’s elections: it won only 10.8 percent of the vote, compared to 13.2 percent in June.
The elections took place against the backdrop of Turkey’s war with the PKK: the Turkish government reignited a war with the militants after they claimed responsibility for the deaths of two army officers in late July. The fighting ended a 2013 ceasefire that was meant to resolve a three-decade conflict in which some 40,000 people have been killed.
”Many left the HDP because it did not condemn PKK," said Huseyin Seyhanlioglu, a lecturer at Dicle University in Diyarbakir, the capital of Turkey’s Kurdish southeast.
He said voters punished the HDP, which is believed to be affiliated with the PKK.
Seyhanlioglu told Rudaw: "People do not want more violence and war. So, if you are a Kurdish nationalist and disagree with the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), then you will probably instead choose HAK-PAR."
He said he believed that more people voted for HDP in June because they hoped the party would contribute to peace.
"But HDP could not solve this problem. When the war broke out, HDP did not speak out against the PKK's leadership in Qandil,” in northern Iraq, Seyhanlioglu said.
Mehmet Necef, associate professor at Southern University in Denmark, agreed.
"PKK’s war damaged the lives of local Kurds and and their businesses, leading some Kurds to become critical of the PKK and disappointed at HDP," he told Rudaw. "They felt that HDP protected PKK."
Necef believed that the existence of HAK-PAR was a largely positive development for the Kurdish community in Turkey, which has often been dominated by the most powerful Kurdish nationalist movement, the PKK.
"It's very good for democracy and diversity with several Kurdish parties," Necef said. "One party alone can’t have a monopoly on Kurdishness."
Ramazan Moray, who was a HAK-PAR candidate in Sunday's polls, explained his party had doubled votes because ”we stood firm," and because the party does not support armed struggle.
Moray said that HAK-PAR would use the election results to contribute to peace.
"The result encourages us and gives us continued courage to work for peace," he said.
"We work for a Kurdish federal state in the short term. In the long term, the solution could be a full independent Kurdish state if the people want it," Moray said.
Additionally, HAK-PAR favors Kurdish education at public schools in Turkey, which remains banned.
Last week Fehmi Demir, former head of HAK-PAR, died in a car accident, only one week before the elections.
“If Demir had witnessed HAK-PAR’s success, he would be very happy. We dedicate our success to him,” Moray said.
Sunday’s snap elections were held after the earlier polls failed to elect a new government because no party garnered a majority or was able to cobble together a coalition.
Turkey elected 550 members to the Grand National Assembly in the 25th general election of the Turkish Republic. This is to be the country's 26th parliament.
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