Yildirim campaigns for Kurdish support in Diyarbakir before Istanbul re-run

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Binali Yildirim, a mayoral candidate for the Istanbul, visited the Kurdish city of Diyarbakir (Amed), calling on people to support him during the re-do local election in Istanbul on June 23, claiming that Kurds have enjoyed freedom and democracy during his Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) rule.

“I have come to Diyarbakir to request your support. Diyarbakir has always been on our side. Inshallah they will be on our side again this time. No one will be able to leave a space between us,” he said on Thursday speaking to AKP supporters in the city.

He sent celebratory wishes Eid al-Fitr and greeted people in the Kurdish language.

Yildirim lost Istanbul to the main opposition Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) candidate Ekrem Imamoglu on March 31. However, following AKP allegations of vote-rigging, the result was rejected by the electoral body which ordered a re-vote.

Yildirim and Imamoglu will be the main candidates on the ballot in two weeks. The AKP candidate said on the third and last day of Eid on Thursday that he is expecting Kurds to vote for him.

“The reason for being in Diyarbakir is to exchange Eid congratulations, see you face-to-face once again, and seek your support,” he said. He claimed there is another Eid waiting for Turkey — “Eid of Istanbul” on June 23 — referring his potential victory in the province.

 

Sezai Temelli co-chair of HDP claimed without evidence in the city of Batman on Thursday that the AKP has sought to rig this election, "but the HDP will give them the best response on June 23." 

There are 1 million Kurdish voters in Istanbul, according to a lawmaker from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP).

However, he said these voters are out of HDP’s control and may not listen to the party on who to potentially vote for “because Kurds are a nation that knows what its national rights are.”

HDP had indirectly called on its supporters in Istanbul, Ankara, and Izmir to vote for the CHP and it seemed to have worked as the AKP lost all three metropolises to the CHP in the first tally.

Imamoglu is likely to regain Kurdish votes as HDP and AKP remain at loggerheads over “democracy” and Kurdish issues.

HDP co-chair Pervin Buldan claimed on Thursday in Kars province there is no democracy so long as Yildirim’s party is in power.

“Our fight will continue until the AKP is gone and descends from power, because we know that once the AKP is gone democracy and peace will come to this country. Once the AKP is gone the path to democratic politics will be open.”

Ataturk had invited deputies from ‘Kurdistan’: Yildirim

Yildirim told his supporters in Diyarbakir that during the Independence War in the 1920s, the founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kamal Ataturk, “invited deputies to the Grant National Assembly meeting in Ankara including the representatives of Kurdistan, Lazistan and throughout Anadolu.”

The Assembly was founded on April 23, 1920 amid Ataturk’s efforts to form a new government from the Ottoman Empire that was in disarray following World War I. He founded modern Turkey in 1923 and became the first president of the country.

The usage of the word “Kurdistan” is now banned in Turkey because it is seen by the government to divide modern Turkey. Nationalistic Kurds believe that most of the provinces of southeast and east of Turkey are considered to be the northern part of a Greater Kurdistan (Bakur). Other parts would include northwestern Iran (Rojhelat), northern Syria (Rojava) and northern Iraq (Kurdistan Region or Bashur).

However, “Kurdistan” has been used by senior Turkish officials during election campaigns including President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who used it in 2013 ahead of the 2014 presidential election. But during this year’s election campaign he repeatedly said in different Kurdish cities that there is nothing called “Kurdistan” in Turkey.

Yildirim shared a video of his speech in Diyarbakir on Twitter but removed the portion about Kurdistan.

He told Rudaw in an interview after the event on Thursday that he expects Kurds to vote for him.

Technically, Kurds from Diyarbakir cannot vote for him in Istanbul, but any positive reaction to Yildirim’s call for votes may influence Kurds there.

He claimed that since the ascendance of the AKP to power, Kurds have experienced more democracy and have been able to use their mother-tongue more freely.

“Today, there are Kurdish institutions and there are undergraduate and doctoral studies in Kurdish,” he told Rudaw, adding that the government has provided Kurdish services in hospitals and allowed Kurdish language lessons.

Kurdish nationalism is emboldened by political party rhetoric particularly by the HDP and AKP in Turkey during election campaigns

Ilyas Safi, a Facebook user, commented on Yildirim’s video posted on Rudaw’s Turkish page, claiming that “you cannot deceive Kurds by speaking one or two Kurdish words.”

He added the AKP should have taken steps to enhance Kurdish language and literature, “if they really care about it.”

Alifirat Yilmazer, another Facebook user, said humorously that even the Canadian PM said “Hello” in Kurdish.