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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - There is a “strong possibility” that the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) will enter the upcoming general elections in Turkey through an alternative party in case its closure materializes, a senior member of the party told Rudaw English on Tuesday.
In 2021, Turkey’s chief prosecutor filed a lawsuit in the Constitutional Court seeking the dissolution of the HDP for alleged links to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) - an armed group struggling for increased rights of Kurds in Turkey but listed as a terrorist organization by Ankara. The case is ongoing and the next hearing has been postponed to April 11.
Ferhat Encu, head of HDP office in Istanbul, told Rudaw English on Tuesday that the party will meet on Wednesday to decide whether to contest the elections within a newly-established party - Green Left Party - or not.
“There is a strong possibility, though it is not definite,” that the HDP will enter elections through the Green Left Party, he said, adding that “we have been discussing this for a while… in case the party closes.”
“We have been working on it so that the will of Kurds would not be without an alternative. It was established a long time ago but there were no preparations for it to enter the elections,” noted the politician. “We do not want to be without an alternative in case the HDP is closed.”
Selahattin Demirtas, former co-chair of the HDP, who has been in jail since 2016 for terror-related charges, shared the logo of Green Left Party, calling on people in a tweet to "print out this image in color and put it on the refrigerator door and room doors at home. Don't know what it is, you will need it."
The Green Left Party already initiated preparations to take part in the Kurdish New Year, Newroz, in Kurdish areas - an event largely organized by the HDP.
HDP co-chair Pervin Buldan told Rudaw English in 2021 that a new party would carry on the Kurdish struggle if her party is eventually closed.
“Political parties are means or tools for political struggle. The important thing is to continue this struggle,” she said.
HDP was founded in 2012 as a pro-Kurdish leftist party. With a diverse group of candidates from devout Muslims, to minority representatives, socialists, and LGBT activists, HDP passed the 10 percent vote threshold and entered the parliament in 2015.
The party acted as an intermediary during the peace process between the Turkish state and the PKK between 2013 and 2015, marking short years of hope that the decades-long conflict that left tens of thousands dead might finally come to an end.
For decades, Kurdish parties have been sidelined, prosecuted, and shuttered by the state. The HDP was formed by members of the Democratic Regions Party (DBP). Both parties consider themselves as pro-Kurdish and are still in alliance. The HDP is seen as the successor of the Democratic Society Party (DTP), which was founded in 2005 but closed by the Turkish Constitutional Court in 2009 for allegedly trying to divide Turkey.
Turkish parliamentary and presidential elections will take place on May 14.
Updated at 7:14 pm with Demirtas' tweet
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