Asmin, who stood on the fringes of the Istanbul protests, said she had no choice but to vote for President Erdogan’s main challenger, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, because of what she believed to be the The presidential candidate is not on the ballot and has been behind bars since 2016.
The 30-year-old teacher, who did not want to give his full name, was referring to Selahattin Demirtaş, a major supporter of Kurdish socialism.People’s Democratic Party(HDP) former co-leader and who ran against Erdogan for the presidency from his cell in 2018,
In order not to split the opposition vote, Demirtas, who faces various “terrorist accusations”, did not appear on the list of four candidates for the presidential election to be held on May 14 on the occasion of the centenary of the Turkish Republic.
How Türkiye Voted in the Past
Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party has been in power since November 2002, and he himself served as president for nine years after serving as prime minister for 11 years. Erdogan and his party are now facing their biggest challenge yet, with Turkey in economic turmoil and dealing with the legacy of a massive earthquake that killed more than 50,000 people.
Turkey’s predominantly Kurdish southeast to vote largely for HDP (Al Jazeera)
Since 2021, the THD is facing a lawsuit that could lead to its dissolution, which seeks to dissolve the party on the grounds of alleged links to “terrorism”. Now the party is rallying under the Green Left Party banner to campaign and field candidates for parliamentary elections, with both parties’ logos strikingly similar to ensure visibility at campaign events and at the ballot box. was quickly recognized.
Asmin said, “We thought we could trust him (referring to Erdogan), but it ended in blood. However, I don’t know if Querida Oulu will make a difference for us, and will return our money.” Rights,” she regularly attends peace vigils, which are now in their 945th week, though such events are often disrupted by police.
The women’s organization Saturday Mothers (which has been banned by the Turkish government) has been holding these demonstrations since 1995 to seek justice for family members who were forced to disappear during the military coup in 1980 and the state of emergency in the 1990s, especially It is in the Kurdish-dominated southeastern region.
“The Kurds only matter because of the votes in their hands. Then what happens? Nothing. Even in democracies, we are still second-class citizens,” said Asmin, whose family is from Kurdish-majority Kurds. Diyarbakir province. “Will the new government free Demirtas and hundreds of others wrongfully imprisoned?”
Kurdish – King Maker
The People’s Democratic Party of Turkey and its left-wing allies have announced support for Querida Oulu, leader of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), who is also the leader of a six-party coalition and will be the leader to help the opposition surpass the 50 percent needed to win the presidency. % of the vote, and the key to securing a parliamentary majority.
Asmin will vote for Querida Oulu for the presidency and will vote for the Green Left party for a parliamentary seat. “I can only follow his news. I will support whoever he asks us to support,” Asmin said of a statement tweeted by Demirtas through his lawyer.
The Turkish government has accused the second-largest opposition party, the People’s Democratic Party, ofPKKties, and the PKK has been designated a “terrorist organization” by Turkey and its Western allies. The PKK has been fighting the Turkish state since 1984 and has killed nearly 40,000 people, mostly civilians. The PDP’s support for Querida Oulu comes after the arrest of more than 100 Kurdish militants, journalists and lawyers in what the government says is an “anti-terrorism” operation.
Erdogan may face his biggest test in 20 years in the upcoming elections — a cost-of-living crisis and soaring inflation that have eroded savings, and the government’s response to the February earthquake that killed 50,000 people. The response has also been criticized.
However, Querida Oulu is unlikely to win without the support of the People’s Democratic Party of Turkey. Kurds are a minority in Turkey, although there are no official figures on their exact numbers.
Voters concerned about election matters
This year’s election comes just months before the massive earthquake that struck in February. Inflation, cost of living crisis and millions of refugees will make this year’s election the biggest challenge facing the current government (Al Jazeera)
“We need change, people need change, Turkey needs change,” said Mahir Urunuer, a 41-year-old plumber living in Istanbul, who is of Kurdish descent from eastern Malatya.
“We need a revolution, we need people like Erkan Bas[the leader of the left-wing Turkish Workers’ Party],” he said, adding that his presidential vote would go to Querida Oglu, The parliamentary vote will go to the Turkish Workers’ Party, which is also part of the Labor and Freedom Alliance, which includes the Green Left party.
“The Kurdish factor is not important to me,” Urunuer said of the PJP, “the socialist factor is.” Although his family has always voted for the PJP, he hopes Bring something different to his life and his country. He added that he seeks “more empowerment for women, more socialism. The CHP may be too liberal. One-man rule must end”, also arguing that identity and religion are less important than equality and greater freedom .
Change: more or less?
Not everyone wants change, especially in times of crisis.
Firat Akbulut, a 60-year-old Kurd living in Istanbul, believes that only Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party can lift the country out of its current economic quagmire and maintain national security.
Akblut, who works as a dry cleaner in the Esenyurt area, said, “Honestly, I can’t say I’m very happy with the status quo, but the president has raised the minimum wage. Other changes are coming. Looking at the world, this problem Everywhere, not just in Turkey. It’s a bad time, but it makes us feel safer,” he also criticized Istanbul’s mayor Ekrem Imamoglu over the blackout of 8 hours of planning. It should be noted that if the CHP coalition wins, then Imamoglu will become one of the two vice presidents.
Many Kurds were drawn to the AKP when it came to power in 2002, and Akbulut is among those in Turkey who still support the party — a large, albeit dwindling number.
There are different reasons for this support: many Kurds are religiously conservative and find the traditional values of the AKP more attractive to them; others see the CHP and other parties in the opposition as Representing the Turkish elite that suppressed Kurdish rights in the past, Erdoğan and the AK Party – especially early in his regime – expanded the space for Kurds to express their identity.
There are many Kurds who oppose the PKK, and Erdogan’s promise to broker a deal with them early in his administration and the calm he brought to southeastern Turkey have contributed to its popularity boost.
Akbulut himself does not see how the opposition will help the Kurds in Turkey.
“How will the six-party coalition govern? If they gain power, they will deceive each other and kill each other,” he added, “They want the Kurds to vote for them, but they have no solution to the Kurdish problem. We will make our own choice.”
Broken promise?
After a two-year ceasefire came to an end after the peace process with the PKK collapsed in 2015, the Turkish government said it would not resume talks with the group. Since then, Turkey has regularly cracked down on the PKK in the southeast and attacked the group’s strongholds in northern Iraq. It also imposed a crackdown on the People’s Democratic Party.
Some voters worry about Erdogan’s other coalitions, albeit unofficial ones, such as with the largely pro-Kurdish Huda-Par party. The alliance has sparked widespread controversy because of the party’s ties to the Kurdish Hezbollah movement and the extrajudicial killings in southeastern Turkey in the 1990s. Although not a full member of the ruling Awami League, its candidates will still run for parliamentary seats under the AKP list.
Zekeriya Yapicioglu, the head of the Freedom Cause Party, said the party’s manifesto specifically mentions that “taboo topics” such as Kurdish autonomy should be freely discussed – and that’s where the two coalitions Nationalists within the country will feel hesitant about the issue.
“Our struggle against repression has lasted for a century,” said a 75-year-old man in a market in Istanbul’s Fatih district. “First they wanted to shake our hands, then we became terrorists and prisons It’s not far from us either. Now, someone wants to shake our hand again.”
He said he was not interested in the election, “Our young people know that they can be detained for anything. Even at my age, there is still a possibility of arrest”, “Only poverty, no pension, maybe Jail. Old people shouldn’t have power. Enough is enough. Don’t take our votes, our support, our power for granted.”
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2023-05-11 15:03:29
