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Turkey’s opposition fragments ahead of March local elections

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Re: Everything you need to know about Turkish elections

PostAuthor: Anthea » Wed May 24, 2023 2:12 pm

Erdogan expected to gain over 56%

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu is confident that the incumbent president will win another term, given the voter turnout during the first round and Sinan Ogan's recent announcement both fall in Erdogan's favor

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu expects that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will gain more than 56% of the votes during the run-off elections, after outrunning opposition candidate Kemal KIlicdaroglu, during the first round.

"In the first round, 49.5% is a figure that every leader in the world cannot even dream of. As a result, the people showed their goodwill, but in the second round, as you can see, more than 56% will vote for the incumbent president. Polls are showing the development in this direction."

People abroad are eager to vote," Cavusoglu told Turkish broadcaster TV100 on Tuesday.

The first round's third-placed candidate, Sinan Ogan, announced on Monday his support for Erdogan in the upcoming runoff and called on his supporters to vote for the incumbent president.

He announced last week a series of conditions that would determine his decision to support any of the candidates, and also demanded that no ministerial seats be given to members of the opposition Peoples' Democratic Party, which he said is a political wing of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, which is designated as a terrorist organization in Turkey.

During the first round, Erdogan received 49.52% of the vote, and Kilicdaroglu received 44.88%. Ogan came in third with over 5%, making him a potential maker in the second round on May 28.

Earlier last week, Erdogan felt confident in emerging victorious in the next round of presidential elections after falling less than half of a percent short as counting was finalized.

Erdogan said on Twitter, "The 14 May elections, one of the elections with the highest participation in our history, took place in a festive atmosphere befitting our democracy."

Although the President was unable to secure the win in the first round, marking the country's first-ever run-off, which Turkey's Supreme Elections Council scheduled for May 28, Erdogan believed that the election marked a victory for "Turkish democracy and the Turkish Nation."

On the other hand, despite Erdogan's statements, Kilicdaroglu said that he is certain he will be winning the runoff election against incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

"We will certainly win the runoff election, and everyone knows that," the Turkish opposition figure said. "Erdogan could not obtain what he wanted despite all his slander and insults." "There was a huge voter turnout, and no one can make claims to victory," the leading Turkish opposition figure said.

"The results revealed that Erdogan could not garner the trust of the people, and the votes for the Justice and Development Party have declined," he added.

https://english.almayadeen.net/news/pol ... -2nd-round
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Re: Everything you need to know about Turkish elections

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Re: Everything you need to know about Turkish elections

PostAuthor: Anthea » Thu May 25, 2023 6:11 am

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Ultranationalist Victory Party
    endorses Kemal Kilicdaroglu
The Victory Party leader, Umit Ozdag, supports Kemal Kilicdaroglu in the face of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the second round of the presidential elections

The leader of Turkey's ultranationalist Victory Party has backed the opposition candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu defying the party's former presidential candidate Sinan Oan, who backed Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

At a joint news appearance with Kilicdaroglu, Victory Party chairman Umit Ozdag stated that the two had signed a memorandum of cooperation, which included commitments to deport all refugees in Turkey within a year of taking office.

They also agreed not to reinstate democratically-elected Kurdish mayors in Turkey's south-east who had been replaced with appointees as part of a state crackdown on the leftwing and predominantly Kurdish People's Democratic Party (HDP) - a jab at the Kurdish support that propelled Kilicdaroglu to victory in the first round.

“We reached a consensus with him. As the Victory party, we decided to support Kilicdaroglu in the second round,” he said.

    Simultaneously, the HDP, whose jailed leader Selahattin Demirtas previously backed Kilicdaroglu, said it would meet to agree on how to respond
The divided support comes only four days before Erdogan and Kilicdaroglu face a runoff in the presidential elections on May 28. Erdogan received little over 49.5% of the vote in the first round ahead of Kilicdaroglu at 44.5%.

Ogan, who campaigned on a clearly anti-refugee platform, received little more than 5% of the vote in the first round and expressed his support for Erdogan earlier this week.

“We believe that our decision will be the right decision for our country and nation,” he said. “I declare that we will support Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the candidate of the People’s Alliance, in the second round of the elections.”

The Victory Party had endorsed Ogan but said at the time that Ogan’s statement did not mirror the views of the party.

After the first round of voting, in which both he and Erdogan worked to recruit Victory Party voters to their side for the runoff, Kilicdaroglu has already doubled down on his own anti-refugee rhetoric.

The topic of Syrian refugees has been highly debated within Turkish politics, and its importance was highlighted in this year's presidential election campaigns, especially that of opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaruglo who said that if he emerges victorious, he intends to "say goodbye" to the refugees within two years.

On the other hand, Erdogan's government has mobilized on diplomatic levels to expand relations with Syria under Russian- and Iranian-mediated talks.

https://english.almayadeen.net/news/pol ... al-kilicda

Far be it for me to say I told you so BUT the picture says it all

Kemalism = Ataturkisim = murderers of Kurds
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Re: Everything you need to know about Turkish elections

PostAuthor: Anthea » Fri May 26, 2023 8:53 pm

HDP traitors support Ataturkisim

Turkey's pro-Kurdish party decided Thursday to continue backing the main opposition leader despite his overtures to far-right groups in the run-up to this weekend's historic presidential runoff

Secular candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu alarmed his leftist Kurdish supporters by starting to court staunchly nationalist voters after losing to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the first round on May 14.

Kilicdaroglu spearheaded the opposition's best performance of Erdogan's two-decade era in what is widely seen as Turkey's most consequential election of its post-Ottoman history.

But the 74-year-old still enters Turkey's first run-off vote on Sunday trailing the conservative incumbent by nearly five points.

The pro-Kurdish HDP and its green allies -- the third-largest voting bloc in the new parliament -- expressed particular alarm when Kilicdaroglu joined forces with a fringe far-right party this week.

Kilicdaroglu also courted the endorsement of Sinan Ogan -- an ultra-nationalist who finished a distant third in the presidential ballot and threw his support behind Erdogan on Monday.

Turkish media reported that some HDP members wanted to call for a boycott of the second round vote in protest at Kilicdaroglu's tactics.

But HDP co-leader Pervin Buldan told reporters that staying away from the polls would only help Erdogan secure another five-year term.

"Erdogan is not an option for us," Buldan said.

"On May 28, we will complete the work that we left unfinished on May 14. In the face of those who try to prevent this demand for change, we will definitely go to the polls."

Nationalist surge

Kilicdaroglu's more overtly nationalist tone contrasts sharply with the inclusive campaign he ran in the first round.

The former civil servant tried to focus on healing Turkey's social divisions and pledged to defend Kurdish interests.

The long-repressed group represents up to a fifth of Turkey's 85-million-strong population and plays an important role in particularly close elections.

They broadly backed Erdogan when he and his Islamic-rooted party lifted some of the social and linguistic restrictions imposed on Kurds during decades of staunchly secular rule.

But they turned against him when Erdogan broke off peace talks with Kurdish insurgency leaders and unleashed a sweeping crackdown in the wake of a failed 2016 coup.

Right-wing and nationalist parties emerged as the big winners of this month's parallel parliamentary polls.

Kilicdaroglu began to pledge to fight "terrorism" -- a Turkish euphemism for Kurdish groups that have been waging a bloody fight for broader autonomy since the 1980s.

He has also promised to quickly expel millions of Syrian and other migrants that have settled in Turkey since Erdogan came to power in 2003.

Buldan bluntly criticised Kilicdaroglu's new approach.

"It is wrong to score political points off immigrants or refugees," Buldan said.

But she added that her main goal on Sunday was ending Erdogan's "one-man regime".

'Unlikely to be enough'

Erdogan has exuded confidence and limited campaigning since surviving the first round.

Analysts at two major Western political risk consultancies -- the US-based Eurasia Group and the UK-based Verisk Maplecroft -- both put his odds of victory 80 percent or more.

"In a last-ditch effort to defeat Erdogan and appeal to nationalist voters, Kilicdaroglu has adopted a harder line on immigration and security ahead of the run-off, bluntly promising to 'send all refugees home'," Verisk Maplecroft analyst Hamish Kinnear said.

"It is unlikely to be enough."

Erdogan used a national television appearance Wednesday to ridicule Kilicdaroglu's new approach.

The opposition "puts on a different mask every day," Erdogan said.

He also flaunted his own nationalist credentials by pointing an accusing finger at Kilicdaroglu's trips to Washington and London during the campaign.

Kilicdaroglu "promises to bow down to the demands of regional and global powers," Erdogan said.

The opposition leader used the visits to try and win over investment houses that abandoned Turkey because of an economic crisis sparked by Erdogan's unorthodox financial approach.

https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/story/31 ... ogan-rival

For years the HDP have controlled and suppressed Kurds taking away their pride and any hope for future independence, with this latest move they have shown their shocking disrespect of all the Kurds slaughtered by Ataturk and his followers
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Re: HDP shocking disrespect of Kurds slaughtered by Ataturk

PostAuthor: Anthea » Sat May 27, 2023 11:11 pm

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Erdogan visits grave of Islamic idol

Erdogan had previously made reference to Adnan Menderes in the early polls for May 14. Just as his predecessor, Erdogan survived a putsch against his own government in 2016

Just a day prior to the second voting round of Turkey's elections, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday paid homage to the late Adnan Menderes, a Turkish former premier who was renowned for his conservative-Islamic views and who was tried and killed by the military junta after a coup was staged in 1960 to bring the country back to a secular form of government.

Erdogan had previously made reference to Adnan Menderes in the early polls for May 14. Just like his predecessor, Erdogan survived a putsch against his own government in 2016.

"The era of coups and juntas is over," the President said while urging voters to go to the ballot boxes tomorrow.

In January this year, Erdogan told his supporters that he plans to continue Menderes's battle for religious rights and nationalist aspirations in the predominantly Muslim country. A similar visit to Istambul's iconic Hagia Sophia mosque two weeks ago was also evocative of such a purpose.

During the first round of the vote, Erdogan received 49.52% of the vote, and his rival opposition candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu received 44.88%.

Earlier last week, Erdogan felt confident in emerging victorious in the next round of presidential elections after falling less than half of a percent short as counting was finalized.

Erdogan said on Twitter, "The 14 May elections, one of the elections with the highest participation in our history, took place in a festive atmosphere befitting our democracy."

On another note, opposition candidate Kilicdaroglu has attempted to catch up to Erdogan by accusing Erdogan during a TV interview on Friday of unfairly blocking his text messages to voters.

"They are afraid of us," he said.

On Monday, Turkish sources reported that Turkey's third-place finisher, Sinan Ogan, and leader of the far-right Nationalist Movement Party said that he will be endorsing Erdogan in the second round of elections.

Ogan obtained 5.2 percent of the vote on May 14. Were it not for him, Erdogan could have won in the first round.

Then on Wednesday, sources reported that the leader of Turkey's ultranationalist Victory Party, Umit Ozdag, announced his endorsement of opposition leader Kilicdaroglu, defying the party's former presidential candidate Sinan Oan, who backed Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

“We reached a consensus with him. As the Victory party, we decided to support Kilicdaroglu in the second round,” he said.

On the same day, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that he expects Erdogan to gain more than 56% of the votes during the run-off elections.

"In the first round, 49.5% is a figure that every leader in the world cannot even dream of. As a result, the people showed their goodwill, but in the second round, as you can see, more than 56% will vote for the incumbent president. Polls are showing the development in this direction."

https://english.almayadeen.net/news/pol ... keys-2nd-v
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Re: HDP shocking disrespect of Kurds slaughtered by Ataturk

PostAuthor: Anthea » Sat May 27, 2023 11:48 pm

HDP selling out Kurds to Ataturk's followers

Shamefully disrespecting all the Kurds slaughtered by Ataturk and his followers

HDP have chosen this, the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Lausanne Treaty in 1923

The very treaty which denied Kurds a country of their own

For 100 years Kurds have fought for an Independent Kurdistan

HDP have sold out to the very people who have committed the most horrendous acts of genocide slaughtering untold thousands possibly millions of innocent Kurds

Kurds need a political party that will give them the pride and the respect they deserve
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Re: Unofficial Results Erdogan more than 52% of Votes

PostAuthor: Anthea » Sun May 28, 2023 7:41 pm

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World Leaders Congratulate Erdogan

Shortly after the work of the electoral boards concluded, the Turkish authorities announced that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had won the runoff held in Türkiye on Sunday

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday led his secular, pro-West rival, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, with all the votes counted in light of the historic run-off election that saw the AKP party overthrowing its rivals both in the presidency and Parliament after garnering the majority of the vote in both elections.

Erdogan announced his victory in a speech addressing his celebrating supporters in front of his home in Istanbul.

Erdogan will remain president of Turkey until 2028 after winning 52,10% of the vote, giving him an entire decade in power after he originally became president in 2014.

What does this mean for Kurds !?!

Hopefully the launching of a new Kurdish Independence Party

I was shocked and disgusted that the HDP would support Ataturk's followers

Shamefully disrespecting all the Kurds slaughtered by Ataturk and his followers

For 100 years Kurds have fought for an Independent Kurdistan

Now is the time to launch a political party that actually supports Kurds
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Re: Unofficial Results Erdogan more than 52% of Votes

PostAuthor: Anthea » Sun May 28, 2023 9:31 pm

Erdoğan extends rule into third decade

Erdoğan had secured about 52.1 per cent of the vote with almost all the counting complete, according to Turkey’s election board, putting him significantly ahead of Kılıçdaroğlu on 47.9 per cent

The run-off victory caps an extraordinary campaign for Erdoğan, who went into this election cycle at his most vulnerable since he first became Turkey’s leader in 2003, with the country gripped by an acute cost of living crisis and an opposition at its most organised in years.

“Without making any concession in our democracy, development or goals, we’ve opened the door to the century of Turkey together,” Erdoğan said in a victory speech in Istanbul on Sunday evening, delivered from atop a bus to raucous applause from supporters standing below.

“What did I tell you?” he added. “We will be together to the grave.”

    Sunday’s second-round vote was billed by Erdoğan and Kılıçdaroğlu, who led a six-party alliance, as a referendum on Turkey’s future, exactly 100 years after the republic was founded by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
But he presides over an economy that is under increasing strain. The lira hit a record low on Friday, while the country’s dollar bonds were hit hard over the past fortnight and costs to insure against a debt default lurched higher.

Investors and economists say they are particularly worried by a big slide in Turkey’s foreign exchange reserves, which accelerated ahead of the first round of elections on May 14.

The opposition had also warned that another five-year term for Erdoğan, who has towered over Turkey like no other politician since Atatürk, would send the country irreversibly down a path where democracy and human rights were steadily eroded. The longtime leader, who has centralised power in an executive presidency, accused his opponents of aligning with terrorists and the west at Turkey’s expense.

Erdoğan also took a hard line on foreign policy ahead of the vote, pushing back against Sweden’s accession to Nato despite pressure from allies.

Erdoğan emphasised family values, the battle against terrorism and Turkey’s growing role on the world stage in a series of fiery campaign rallies that helped to galvanise support among conservative, pious voters. He also launched repeated personal attacks against Kılıçdaroğlu, including in his victory speech on Sunday.

Backing from Erdoğan’s base in Turkey’s Anatolian heartland helped the president exceed expectations in the first round, in which he defied polls to edge Kılıçdaroğlu into second place, although neither candidate gained the more than 50 per cent of the voted needed to win outright.

Going into that vote, Turkey’s opposition was brimming with confidence that scorching inflation and the government’s stuttering response to the devastating earthquake in February could carry them to victory.

Erdoğan’s president’s bloc, a coalition that includes his Islamist-rooted Justice and Development party and the Nationalist Movement party, also held on to its majority in parliament in a legislative vote on May 14.

Kılıçdaroğlu, 74, had vowed to revive the economy by reversing many of Erdoğan’s policies, while also bringing Turkey back to a parliamentary democracy from the executive presidency system that was put in place after a referendum in 2017.

After the disappointing first-round performance, Kılıçdaroğlu switched from a campaign that promised “spring will come” to harsher nationalist, anti-immigration rhetoric. He was dealt a further blow when Sinan Oğan, the nationalist powerbroker who finished third in the first round, threw his support behind Erdoğan.

Speaking after the release of unofficial results on Sunday, Kılıçdaroğlu promised to “continue to fight until real democracy comes to our country”.

“In this election, the will of the people to change the authoritarian government emerged despite all the pressures,” he said.

International election observers said the first-round vote was broadly free but they noted that the campaigns had been far from fair. Erdoğan leaned heavily on state resources, providing giveaways such as free gas and 10GB of internet for students. He also boosted pay for public sector workers and increased the minimum wage.

The country’s media, which is largely affiliated with the government, has provided wall-to-wall coverage of Erdoğan events, including the opening of a Black Sea gas facility and the inauguration of a warship.

https://www.ft.com/content/6b950ee5-974 ... b98a594607
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Re: Unofficial Results Erdogan more than 52% of Votes

PostAuthor: Anthea » Tue May 30, 2023 9:47 pm

Erdogan Bolstering Türkiye's Influence

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has secured his third term on the post after winning a runoff presidential election held on Sunday. Experts believe that he is likely to maintain a balance between the West and the East to keep positioning Türkiye as a regional heavyweight

In Sunday's contest, Erdogan won 52.14 percent of the votes. His opponent Kemal Kilicdaroglu garnered 47.86 percent, Turkish Supreme Election Council Chairman Ahmet Yener said. The victory allows Erdogan to remain in power for another five years.

For long, to enhance Türkiye's strategic importance, the Turkish leader has attached importance to the country's NATO membership on the international stage on the one hand, and engaged in a delicate balancing act between the West and the East on the other.

When he announced his election manifesto in Ankara in April, Erdogan hinted that his country will continue to play an active role in regional affairs.

"We will build the axis of Türkiye with a foreign policy where both our country, our region, and humanity will find peace and stability, multilateralism, more cooperation, peace, stability, and humanitarian diplomacy," he said.

Batu Coskun, an Ankara-based political risk analyst, said Erdogan is unlikely to change course, adding that a major task for the country would be to reconcile with former foes.

"Foreign policy-wise, I don't expect a vast shift from the previous foreign policy before the electoral cycle began," he said, adding that a priority for Turkish diplomacy is to push for a reconciliation with Syria.

Signs of thawing the frozen Türkiye-Syria relations have been seen last year at meetings between Turkish, Syrian, and Russian ministers and officials in Moscow.

In the past few years, Türkiye has mended ties with Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates following difficult regional isolation. Egypt is next in line in Türkiye's drive, Coskun said.

    In a multipolar world, Türkiye strives for autonomy from the Western bloc, pursuing an independent foreign policy
The tweet reads, "Last night, thousands of Lebanese gathered in the streets of Beirut to celebrate Erdogan's victory. The Turkish president is highly regarded in the Arab world for his pro-oppressed policies."

On Russia, analysts believe Ankara would continue to maintain close political and financial relations with Moscow, despite criticism from its Western allies.

"Türkiye's position on Russia is unlikely to change. Türkiye will continue to engage with Moscow and President Vladimir Putin both financially, politically and strategically," Coskun said.

The balance has earned Türkiye a reputation during the Ukraine crisis. Ankara has not joined the Western sanctions against Russia, but has served as a mediator between the parties, facilitating prisoner exchanges, the Black Sea Grain Initiative, and peace talks at the onset of the conflict.

On relations with the United States, Erdogan in a media interview expressed his desire to cooperate with U.S. President Joe Biden and his administration.

Ankara's ties with Washington have become strained due to their policy differences on Syria, Libya, or the Eastern Mediterranean. Türkiye has also been sanctioned by the United States for purchasing Russian defense systems and dismissed from the F-35 stealth jet program.

In Coskun's view, there is little room for improvement in Turkish-U.S. relations. "I do not necessarily expect new frictions (with the United States) but I don't expect engagement or a detente either. The Biden administration appears to be quite distant from Türkiye."

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Erd ... -0009.html
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Re: Kurdish leader Demirtas retires from politics

PostAuthor: Anthea » Wed May 31, 2023 9:26 pm

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Demirtas retires from politics
Wladimir van Wilgenburg

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Selahattin Demirtas, the imprisoned ex-co-chair of Turkey's pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), on Wednesday announced he would retire from politics

He underlined that although he would continue the ‘struggle’ from prison, as other Kurdish imprisoned politicians, “I choose to withdraw from active politics at this stage," he tweeted.

"I sincerely apologize for our failure to present a policy that meets the expectations of our people,” he said, after the HDP-backed Turkish opposition lost the elections to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

“I appreciate the constructive criticism directed at me and will strive to learn from it."

“I send my greetings to all of you, my love, and I embrace you all with longing. Hope to see you in free days.”

Despite the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) calling for his release, Demirtas has been in jail since 2016.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in his victory speech vowed that Demirtas would not be released during his presidency.

Turkish President Erdogan emerged victorious in the second round of the presidential elections on Monday, securing 52% of the votes and extending his rule for another five years.

https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/story/31 ... -in-Turkey
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Re: Demirtas leaves politics hope Kurds have a FREEDOM party

PostAuthor: Anthea » Fri Jun 02, 2023 11:11 pm

New parliamentarians sworn in

The Turkish parliament on Friday held a swearing-in ceremony for 600 lawmakers elected in last month’s vote

On May 14, Turkey held the most anticipated elections in its modern history. The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) emerged victorious despite an ongoing economic crisis that saw the lira lose value and the aftermath of February’s devastating earthquake that killed over 50,000 people.

The parliament is made up of members of 17 political parties who ran in the election as part of three alliances, the People’s Alliance, the Nation Alliance, and Labour and the Freedom Alliance.

AKP maintained its majority, despite losing seats compared to the 2018 election. The pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP), which entered the parliament as the Green Left Party, also lost seats, but preserved its status as the third-largest party in the parliament.

Nationalist parties gained seats. Both the pro-government Nationalist People Movement (MHP) and the opposition’s IYI Party took around 10 percent of the votes each, racking up a total of 50 seats for MHP and 44 for IYI.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who won the second round of the presidential election, will be sworn in for a third term on Saturday in front of the new parliament. The ceremony will be attended by officials from over 20 countries, including the President of the Kurdistan Region, Nechirvan Barzani.

Head of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Jens Stoltenberg will also attend and will meet with Erdogan and senior Turkish officials. He will likely push for Ankara’s acceptance of Sweden’s accession to the military alliance.

After he is sworn in, Erdogan will announce his cabinet and hold the first cabinet meeting. The new cabinet will be sworn in on Sunday.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeas ... y/02062023
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Re: Get rid of HDP and have a Kurdistan FREEDOM party

PostAuthor: Anthea » Sun Jun 04, 2023 8:57 pm

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Mehmet Simsek finance minister

Mehmet Simsek, a Kurd from Turkey’s Batman province, returns to his role as finance minister, a post he held from 2009 to 2015. Simsek came from humble beginnings in a small village and worked his way to become one of Turkey's most influential economists

Mehmet Simsek was born on January 1, 1967, the youngest of eight children. His mother, Mehdiye, died when he was four years old. After that, his brother Ehmed Simsek took care of him and sent him to school.

They were very poor, Ehmed said, but despite that, all the brothers managed to study. Poverty forced Mehmet Simsek to change schools several times, between Qubin, Kercews, and Batman, but he remained dedicated to his scholastic achievements.

“He would go to the mountain, and while there, he would write on the rocks. He was passionate about his studies,” Ehmed said.

Faik Dogmus was one of Mehmet Simsek’s friends during high school. After finishing high school, he opened a shop, but Mehmet Simsek continued his studies. His friend says that Simsek used to walk long distances to school in order to study.

“He was a good, smart student. We walked to school. We used to walk about eight kilometres to school, and so did he,” Dogmus said.

After finishing high school, Simsek started studying in the economy department at Gazi University in Ankara, but switched to the political studies department. Later, he received a scholarship from Etibank to study for a master's degree in economy and finance.

Having studied in the UK, his international economic career gradually started to develop. In 2007, when he was working at an international bank, the son of then-president Abdullah Gul worked with him as an assistant. Gul spoke to his father and praised Simsek, thus opening the gate to his political career.

Simsek served as finance minister from 2009 to 2015. During his term in office, Turkey enjoyed a stable economy with the lira trading at a high value.

On Saturday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reinstated Simsek as finance minister. Hopes are that he can restore vigour to the economy, control soaring inflation and a cost of living crisis.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/people-places/03062023
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Re: Aftermath of Turkish election and hopefully end of HDP

PostAuthor: Anthea » Mon Jun 05, 2023 1:31 am

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HDP co-chairs to step down from positions

The Peoples’ Democratic Party’s (HDP) co-chairs on Sunday announced they will not be running for the party’s top position following the party’s loss in the latest parliamentary election

Speaking during a live broadcast on MedyaHaber TV, HDP co-chairs Mithat Sancar and Pervin Buldan announced stepping down from the role at the party’s next congress.

Turkey held parliamentary and presidential elections on May 14, with HDP losing six seats compared to the 2018 vote. The party sent 61 members to the 600-seat legislature.

The party has been criticized for supporting opposition candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu in the presidential elections and refraining from running a pure pro-Kurdish campaign. After the poor results of the elections were announced, the party decided to hold congress.

“I am ready to do whatever is my part at every stage of this struggle, but considering all the criticisms, I would be very honoured to give the co-chair [position] to another friend in this congress,” Buldan said, stressing that the decision to hold a congress was taken after meetings with the party boards since they failed to achieve their goals in the elections.

Buldan said that the party’s weak election campaign and lack of diversity among their candidates was one of the main reasons for losing votes.

“We did not go outside of circles, we couldn’t grow. We lacked inclusion of different components among us, for example, the lack of Armenians, Yazidi or disabled representations were one of the important shortcomings,” she said.

HDP losing votes in the election prompted criticism within the party bases towards the administration, with voices clamouring to hold Buldan and Sancar accountable and resign from their positions.

On Wednesday, jailed Kurdish politician and former HDP co-chair Selahattin Demirtas announced temporarily leaving politics following the party’s loss. Demirtas was actively campaigning during the elections on his Twitter account, which is believed to be run by his lawyers who frequently visit him.

“Thank you for constructive criticism towards me. I will try to benefit from the criticism,” said Demirtas in a tweet which he said was part of a written interview with a news outlet.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeas ... /040620232

I was shocked and disgusted that the HDP would support Ataturk's followers

Shamefully disrespecting all the Kurds slaughtered by Ataturk and his followers

For 100 years Kurds have fought for an Independent Kurdistan

Forget the HDP traitors now is the time to launch a political party that actually supports Kurds


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Re: Aftermath of Turkish election and hopefully end of HDP

PostAuthor: Anthea » Wed Jun 07, 2023 7:33 am

What went wrong with Turkey’s Kurds?

Weeks after the latest elections, a sense of disappointment overwhelms many Kurdish politicians and the public in Turkey due to the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party’s (HDP) poor performance and the opposition’s failure to unseat President Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Eight years ago, for the first time, a pro-Kurdish party passed the 10 percent threshold and entered the Turkish parliament when the HDP gained 13,12 percent of the votes in the June 2015 parliamentary election. Prior to this victory, Kurds only entered the legislature as independent lawmakers.

When the results were canceled due to Erdogan’s failure to form a new cabinet, the HDP votes decreased to 10.7 percent in the second round. Three years later, the party performed well again, winning nearly 12 percent of the vote. This gave Kurds hope for a bright future in a country where they had been systematically oppressed for decades.

Both wins were largely due to strong campaigns fueled by inspiring words from the HDP’s charismatic and young leader Selahattin Demirtas.

The Kurds were hoping to finally have real representation in the Turkish parliament after the two wins, but they could not bring about any major changes to the status of Kurds because the government targeted the HDP lawmakers, charging them with alleged terror links. The parliamentary immunity or membership of many of them were revoked.

The hope of real representation in the legislature was destroyed when the HDP’s votes fell to 8.8 percent in the latest poll on May 14, though it can still enter the legislature thanks to the recent reduction of the threshold to seven percent.

    The pro-Kurdish party has come under fire from supporters for mishandling the election campaign. Many Kurds on social media demanded the party make drastic changes. "Party reform is needed!" tweeted Firat Arslan on May 15, accusing the HDP of failing to be a party for all
The HDP has acknowledged its failures and promised to learn from its mistakes ahead of March 2024 local elections. It will hold a congress where co-chairs Pervin Buldan and Mithat Sancar will not run to retain their posts.

But the biggest blow to the party came when Demirtas announced his temporary retirement from active politics after failing to help his party from jail.

The party went into the election on the backfoot. 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). To avoid a potential political ban, the party in March decided to field candidates through an alternative, recently-established party - Green Left Party. The HDP also formed an alliance with several Turkish leftist parties.

All this preparation was aimed at guaranteeing a better performance and to make sure that their alliance with the leftists and an informal deal with the main opposition bloc would end Erdogan’s two-decade reign. Why? Because the party has suffered enormously under his successive governments, which have cracked down on the party’s officials, members, and supporters, jailing thousands of them for alleged ties with the PKK. The party’s former co-chairs Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag are among the detainees whom the HDP calls political “hostages.”

Lackluster comeback

The HDP launched its electoral campaign with the motto “We again,” hoping to enter the race with the same strong spirit of previous polls. However, the party did not do enough on the ground to ensure its message was delivered across the country, with many of its supporters complaining that the lack of a charismatic leader resulted in tedious campaigns that were tailored in a way that would not anger their Turkish leftist allies.

The party lost more than one million votes compared to the 2018 elections, according to data from the country’s electoral body.

Roj Girasun, director of the Rawest Research polling company, told Rudaw English that four factors were behind the party’s loss.

In the past, a large number of people from opposition parties voted for the HDP to help it pass the threshold, but they did not do so this time because they knew the party no longer needed their support to reach the lowered threshold, he said.

Leadership was another factor. “HDP does not have a charismatic leader like Demirtas. Current HDP politicians and officials are not charismatic, so they cannot gain the support of the public. This contributed to the weakness of the HDP,” said the Kurdish researcher.

The party’s failure to field “renowned or social” candidates for the parliamentary and its decision not to put any candidate into the presidential race also contributed to the loss, added Girasun.

When the HDP announced two Turkish journalists, Hasan Cemal and Cengiz Candar, as parliamentary candidates it drew the ire of many Kurds who said the party should not give space to them while there are many patriotic Kurds who the party should be supporting. Only Candar made it to the legislature, representing the Kurdish province of Diyarbakir (Amed).

In an interview with pro-opposition Arti Gercek news agency, Demirtas said that the lists of HDP candidates did not meet the expectations of the party’s supporters.

“There are criticisms that there is a lack of a certain method in the creation of the lists and that the expectations and suggestions of the public are not taken into account,” said the former HDP leader, adding that these criticisms should be taken “seriously” by the party.

He held the party leaders responsible for “ignoring the people’s democracy,” calling it “an ideological deviation.”

Demirtas also revealed for the first time that he had asked his party to field him as a presidential candidate in order to boost the HDP’s performance, but his request was ignored. His presidential candidacy in 2018 was vital to the party’s remarkable performance.

His wife, Basak Demirtas, represented him in the HDP electoral campaigns and was warmly welcomed by supporters. She also delivered strong messages that voters could get behind.

In a bid to defeat Erdogan's candidates in the 2019 local elections, the HDP indirectly supported the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) by not fielding their own candidates in some areas outside of the Kurdish-majority southeast. This strategy worked well and CHP beat Erdogan’s candidates in Istanbul and Ankara - something which would not be possible without the votes of millions of Kurds.

However, in the latest presidential election, the HDP explicitly supported CHP leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu and ended up losing a seat to a CHP candidate in Amed where the main opposition party has not won a seat in more than two decades.

Buldan acknowledged on Sunday that their lists were lacking and did not represent the breadth of their supporters.

“We did not go outside of circles, we couldn’t grow. We lacked inclusion of different components among us, for example, the lack of Armenians, Yazidi or disabled representations were one of the important shortcomings,” she said.

Soner Cagaptay, a Senior Fellow at Washington Institute, told Rudaw English that the lower turnout in the HDP strongholds also contributed to the party’s loss.

    “I see a few reasons why they did not [do well]. One is [that] they did not like that their party supported the Kemalists’ candidate. Never mind the platform of this Kemalist candidate. Kilicdaroglu was saying he was going to resettle or reset Turkey’s injustices, apologize for these injustices,” he noted
He added that many Kurdish conservative voters may not have liked Kilicdaroglu’s Alevi background.

Alevism, a modernist current of Islam, has a bad reputation among the predominantly Sunni population of Turkey, including in Kurdish areas. Many conservative Muslims would never support an Alevi to be their leader.

Consequences

The impact of the election results will not fade away soon and could play a key role in next year’s local elections. The HDP has performed well in such elections in the past but this will not happen again this time around if the party makes the same mistakes it did last month.

In the past, Erdogan’s governments intensified their crackdowns on the HDP whenever the party won at the ballot box. The two parties are main rivals in Kurdish areas. The revenge was obvious in 2019 when the HDP mayors were accused of having links with the PKK and many of them were detained, removed from their positions for terror-related charges, and replaced with pro-government appointees. This was seen as a reprisal for HDP’s support for the CHP in Istanbul and Ankara. Until 2019, Erdogan and his party had won all elections in Istanbul since the nineties

The Kurdish analyst Girasun said there will not be any positive changes regarding the Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) government’s treatment of the HDP.

“I do not expect the government of AKP or Erdogan to change positively towards the Kurds because of the HDP’s alliance with the opposition and Erdogan gained fewer votes from Kurds (compared to previous elections),” he said.

Neither Kilicdaroglu nor his alliance of six parties thanked the HDP for its support, nor did they acknowledge it. He had a meeting with HDP co-chairs and made a deal with them before the elections but the details have not been publicized.

Erdogan has said several times that he would not allow the release of Demirtas from jail. In his first speech after winning the elections on May 28, he renewed this vow and his supporters could be heard calling for Demirtas’ execution. Demirtas campaigned for Kilicdaroglu more than his party and Erdogan’s fresh threat may signal a new clampdown on the HDP. The opposition candidate had promised to end the oppression of Kurds in the country and free Demirtas.

The pro-Kurdish party is not the only loser of the elections. The AKP too lost several seats but it was still able to form the biggest parliamentary alliance - thanks to its nationalist allies.

In addition, the Rights and Freedoms Party (HAK-PAR), which considers itself a Kurdish party, lost more than 50 percent of the votes it previously received. It then claimed that its votes were “stolen.”

May’s elections were Turkey’s most hotly contested in decades and many parties are already making preparations for next year’s local polls. The HDP wants to elect a new leadership that can rectify its mistakes and help the party regain its widespread support in Kurdish areas.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeas ... y/06062023
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Re: Aftermath of Turkish election and hopefully end of HDP

PostAuthor: Anthea » Thu Jun 15, 2023 12:27 am

PKK ends ceasefire

Kurdish militants from the outlawed PKK group said they are ending a unilateral ceasefire they declared after Turkey was hit by a major earthquake earlier this year

The announcement, carried by pro-Kurdish media on Tuesday, threatens to see a return of violence that has claimed tens of thousands of lives since the PKK launched its fight for an autonomous state in Turkey's southeast in 1984.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who was re-elected for another five years last month, has intensified operations against the militant group and its offshoots in both Iraq and Syria.

A Kurdish militant umbrella organisation that also includes the PKK said it was responding to Turkey's renewed operations.

"The need for active struggle has become inevitable," the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) said in a statement.

"We declare that we have called off the unilateral ceasefire as of today," it said.

The February earthquake, which has claimed more than 50,000 lives, hit a region near where some of the heaviest fighting between Turkish government forces and the PKK took place.

https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/story/31 ... ith-Turkey
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Re: PKK ends ceasefire hope it works towards INDEPENDENCE

PostAuthor: Anthea » Sun Jun 18, 2023 1:18 am

Turkey’s fractured opposition

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday took a swipe at the country’s opposition, which is still reeling from last month’s electoral defeat

“What has been happening on the opposition front since May 28 tells us how our country came back from the brink of disaster,” Erdogan said during an award ceremony for Turkey’s Export Council in Istanbul.

“We saw how those who promised democracy to our nation become dictators overnight when it came to their positions,” he added, attacking his rival in the presidential election Kemal Kilicdaroglu who has faced a backlash from his party’s base and demands to resign after losing to Erdogan.

“Regardless of intra-party conflicts and father and son’s fight for the throne, Turkey needs a new understanding of opposition,” Erdogan said

Since losing the presidential election in a hard-fought second round, Kilicdaroglu has been under heavy criticism from within the ranks of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), the largest opposition party and oldest political force in modern Turkey. He has refused to heed calls to step down as leader and described himself as “the captain” who will steer the ship to safety in a speech to newly elected MPs on Tuesday.

“It is the captain’s duty to take the ship safely to the port. Everyone should know that I, as the captain, will take the ship into port safely,” Kilicdaroglu said on Tuesday, promising that he will pave the way for changes within the CHP.

Some within the party have called for Ekrem Imamoglu, mayor of Istanbul and popular figure, to take over leadership of the CHP.

The day following the presidential election run-off vote, Imamoglu, who was poised to become vice president had Kilicdaroglu won, posted a video on social media demanding change. “We will no longer do the same things and expect the same results,” he said in the video.

On May 14, Turkey held parliamentary and presidential elections. Erdogan’s alliance, led by his Justice and Development Party (AKP), won a majority of seats in the legislature, but no presidential candidate passed the mandatory 50% mark and a run-off vote was held on May 28 when Erdogan took 52.14 percent of the votes, while Kilicdaroglu only received 47.86 percent.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeas ... /170620231
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