ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Turkey’s pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) has sent a delegation to the Kurdistan Region to appeal for support from the Region’s political parties.
“Northern Kurdistan needs you today ... June 24th will bring about different demands for our nation,” Nihat Akdogan, a member of the delegation, told Rudaw.
Kurds refer to the southeastern region of Turkey as Northern Kurdistan, considering it one of the four parts of the greater Kurdistan.
Akdogan, an incumbent MP in the Turkish parliament, called on Kurdish parties to lend their support in the cause of Kurdish unity and to urge Kurds in Turkey to vote HDP.
Under election rules, the HDP must win at least 10 percent of the vote else it will be disqualified and its votes transferred to larger parties. It will also see its taxpayer funded budget slashed.
Four opposition parties have created the Nation Alliance as a united front against incumbent president Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s AKP. The HDP has not been included, however.
The party’s presidential candidate, Selahattin Demirtas, is in prison while standing trial for terror-related offenses.