Turkey’s municipal elections have renewed discussions about prospects for a new peace process between the state and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
Rasim Ozan Kutahyali, a well-known Turkish journalist close to the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), told Rudaw’s Hevidar Zana that the vote will not bring a new peace process, but it could change Ankara’s policy towards Kurds who make up over 20 percent of the population.
“There is no possibility of a new solution process, but there may be a softening. The climate may soften. The softening of the climate may lead to more tolerance, understanding and freedom towards the Kurds. This can happen if the Kurds remain neutral in the fight between the Turks,” he said.
There is a neck-and-neck race for the mayoralty of Istanbul between the AKP’s Murat Kurum and the incumbent and candidate of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) Ekrem Imamoglu.
The AKP lost Istanbul to the CHP in 2019 and it has put a lot of effort into regaining the city from Imamoglu, who won partly due to indirect support from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP). HDP has since rebranded itself as the Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) due to legal issues.
Neutrality means the DEM Party supports voting for their own candidate, Meral Danis Bestas. However, a large number of the party’s supporters are expected to vote for Imamoglu, in defiance of their party. Recent polling by private companies suggest that Bestas will receive around three percent of the vote.
The AKP sees the election as a test. Party officials say if Bestas receives around ten percent of the votes, this means the party has remained neutral. But if the results are lower then it proves that Bestas’ candidacy was a ploy.
“The Kurdish vote, or more precisely the DEM Party vote, in Istanbul is nine to 10 percent. Now, if this is four to three percent, it means 56 percent went to Ekrem Imamoglu. From that moment on, the Dem Party, I regret to say, will have no power in Turkey. Until 2028, despite all the votes and all the MPs, it will be completely ignored,” said Kutahyali.
In 2013, the AKP government entered into peace talks with the PKK, paving the way for an unprecedented opening towards Kurds in the country. Kurdish politicians were able to speak freely about their rights, a topic that was previously taboo. The peace talks, which were mediated by the HDP, collapsed in 2015 and were followed by intense urban fighting in the country’s Kurdish areas.
