Turkey
Erdogan speaking at an election rally in the northwestern Balikesir province on February 23, 2024. Photo: Turkish presidency.
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday launched an attack on the opposition’s Republican People’s Party (CHP), saying that the oldest political party in the country has lost touch with the people because of its relationship with a pro-Kurdish party.
Erdogan’s said that the CHP is in a “sorry state” and the party has “stooped to bizarre” levels to attract votes. He made his comments during a rally in the northwestern Balikesir province ahead of local elections on March 31.
“By seeking reconciliation with Qandil under the guise of urban consensus, the CHP indicates that it has no common ground left with this country and its people,” Erdogan said, referring to recent talks between the CHP and the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), which he considers to be the political arm of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Qandil is the location of the PKK’s headquarters in the Kurdistan Region’s mountains.
CHP and DEM Party have recently engaged in talks about cooperation in the upcoming polls, especially after DEM Party decided to field candidates in western provinces and major cities, a change of strategy from the 2019 vote.
DEM Party candidates Murat Cepni and Meral Danis Bestas are running in Istanbul, but the party refrained from fielding candidates in 39 districts following talks with CHP, including in Esenyurt where DEM has a strong base. CHP agreed to nominate a candidate that the DEM Party approves of in return for its withdrawal from Esenyurt.
“The CHP has ceased to be a game-changer and has become a pawn in the games being played. Those who have turned the mighty CHP into a plaything of the separatist organization PKK and marginal groups should feel ashamed,” Erdogan said.
Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) hopes to reclaim the municipalities of Ankara and Istanbul, which they lost to CHP in 2019 after nearly two decades of dominance.
According to the Turkish electoral commission, 52 candidates will vie for the Istanbul mayoralty in March, as 22 parties fielded candidates and 30 others will compete independently. AKP fielded Murat Kurum, Turkey’s former environment minister, to compete against the incumbent mayor CHP’s Ekrem Imamoglu, and DEM Party’s Cepni and Bestas.
In the latest election surveys conducted by MetroPoll from January 12 to January 15, Imamoglu leads the race by 41.6 percent, followed by Kurum at 38 percent.
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