Pro-Kurdish party names Yezidi woman among leading runners for Turkey polls
ANKARA, Turkey – Turkey’s pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP), fighting for its own seat in parliament, has nominated German-born Yezidi politician Feleknas Uca among expected frontrunners in the June 7 elections.
Some polls suggest the HDP could more than double its votes since the 2011 elections, easily stepping over the 10 percent threshold required by the constitution for representation in the Turkish parliament.
Uca, among four candidates nominated from Diyarbakir, is a former German MP to the European Parliament, where she was the world’s only Yezidi MP at the time.
Her candidacy was announced by the HDP Tuesday as party co-leader Selahattin Demirtas was chosen for Istanbul.
He said earlier this week that more than 40 percent of the party's candidates for parliamentary seats in the June elections will be women, calling it a record in Turkish party politics.
With Diyarbakır one of the HDP’s strongholds, the party is expected to easily sweep polls there, very likely granting Uca a seat in the next parliament.
When she held her seat in the European Parliament, the 39-year-old Uca, who is a Die Linke party politician, was the world’s first Yezidi MP.
She has twice faced probes by Turkish police, once in 2005 when her Democratic People’s Party was investigated, and again in 2012 when she was stopped at Istanbul airport for carrying quantities of vitamin capsules for Kurdish hunger strikers in Turkish prisons.
Other HDP nominees include party co-chair Figen Yuksekdag from Van, as well as Sırrı Sureyya Onder, Ertugrul Kurkcu, Osman Baydemir and İdris Baluken.
To get its own place in parliament, the HDP needs to receive more than 10 percent of the votes. A recent survey predicted that the HDP will grab 13 percent of the votes, more than the 5.3 percent it own in 2011.
Some polls suggest the HDP could more than double its votes since the 2011 elections, easily stepping over the 10 percent threshold required by the constitution for representation in the Turkish parliament.
Uca, among four candidates nominated from Diyarbakir, is a former German MP to the European Parliament, where she was the world’s only Yezidi MP at the time.
Her candidacy was announced by the HDP Tuesday as party co-leader Selahattin Demirtas was chosen for Istanbul.
He said earlier this week that more than 40 percent of the party's candidates for parliamentary seats in the June elections will be women, calling it a record in Turkish party politics.
With Diyarbakır one of the HDP’s strongholds, the party is expected to easily sweep polls there, very likely granting Uca a seat in the next parliament.
When she held her seat in the European Parliament, the 39-year-old Uca, who is a Die Linke party politician, was the world’s first Yezidi MP.
She has twice faced probes by Turkish police, once in 2005 when her Democratic People’s Party was investigated, and again in 2012 when she was stopped at Istanbul airport for carrying quantities of vitamin capsules for Kurdish hunger strikers in Turkish prisons.
Other HDP nominees include party co-chair Figen Yuksekdag from Van, as well as Sırrı Sureyya Onder, Ertugrul Kurkcu, Osman Baydemir and İdris Baluken.
To get its own place in parliament, the HDP needs to receive more than 10 percent of the votes. A recent survey predicted that the HDP will grab 13 percent of the votes, more than the 5.3 percent it own in 2011.