HDP lawmaker floats Kurds voting for AKP in Istanbul if conditions are met
Imam Tascier, 60, told Rudaw that if the AKP takes certain steps such as “releasing those Kurds who have been put in jail unjustly, erecting good relations with Rojava (West) Kurdistan, not hurting the Kurdistan Region’s political will and recognizing Kurds who live here [in Turkey], Kurds will see and approach [the AKP].”
The MP from Diyarbakir (Amed) described the steps as “the pathway to addressing the Kurdish issue.”
Turkey’s Supreme Election Council (YSK) ordered a June 23rd re-do of the Istanbul election following claims of “serious corruption” by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his AKP.
Kurds played a significant role in determining who should become the mayor of Istanbul. Many supported the main opposition candidate, the Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) Ekrem Imamoglu. He beat out AKP party loyalist Binali Yildirim, a former prime minister and the speaker of parliament.
The HDP officially had said that they would not support any candidate in the March 31 election, but instead they would boycott in Istanbul, Ankara, and Izmir — where the AKP lost — and give their supporters the freedom of choosing whatever candidate they prefer. They dubbed it “a strategy” for the west.
Tascier told Rudaw that if the AKP addresses Kurdish issues, Kurds will vote for them: “If not, they will vote for the CHP in case it approaches Kurds sincerely.”
However, he denied claims of negotiations between his party and the AKP, adding that such a negotiation is “out of question.”
According to the lawmaker, the HDP has more than a million Kurdish voters in Istanbul but they may not listen to the party if it asks them to vote for a certain party that meets certain conditions “because Kurds are a nation who knows what their national rights are.”
Both the CHP and AKP are expected to approach the HDP and IYI (Good) Party to gain their support after realizing that it is not possible for any of them to independently win in the cultural capital of the country.
The Turkish justice ministry allowed jailed Abdullah Ocalan, the founder of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), to meet his lawyer after eight years last week.
The coinciding re-do of the Istanbul polls and Ocalan meeting have been perceived as a move by the ruling AKP to gain the votes of Kurds.
A few days before he was officially announced the winner of the mayor’s race in Istanbul, Imamoglu positively commented on Kurdish-related issues and has continued to praise the former leader of the HDP Selahattin Demirtas, who is jailed for terror-related charges by the AKP-controlled government.
Imamoglu, 49, told AFP on Thursday: "What we are doing now is a fight for democracy and mobilisation for democracy. It will of course be a revolution once we carry it to its conclusion.”
He said that he will follow the same approach as he had during March 31 election campaigning by meeting voters in bazaars and cafes and taking selfies with them.