Pro-Kurdish party to choose Istanbul mayoral candidate

Speculation has swirled that Basak Demirtas, whose husband Selahattin Demirtas is a former party co-president but has been in jail since 2016, will be nominated

By AFP

February 05, 2024

People’s Equality and Democracy Party (DEM) co-chairperson Tulay Hatimogullari (C) addresses a speech to the press next to Republican People’s Party Chairman (CHP) Ozgur Ozel (L) and People’s Equality and Democracy Party (DEM) co-chairperson Tuncer Bakirhan (R) after a meeting at DEM party headquarters in Ankara on December 13, 2023. — AFP

ISTANBUL: Turkiye´s main pro-Kurdish opposition party on Sunday said it would field a candidate in March´s mayoral election for Istanbul, which could boost the chances of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan´s ruling party.

Erdogan´s Islamic conservative Justice and Development Party (AKP) candidate Binali Yildirum was defeated in 2019 when the secular Turkish opposition joined forces and rallied behind a single contender, Ekrem Imamoglu.

That ended 15 years of AKP rule in the city´s town hall.

But the opposition has fractured ahead of municipal elections at the end of next month, which should help Erdogan´s allies in ethnically mixed cities such as Istanbul.

The pro-Kurdish People´s Equality and Democracy Party (HEDEP), formerly known as the HDP, announced on Sunday that it would reveal its candidate for the Istanbul mayoral elections on February 9.

Speculation has swirled that Basak Demirtas, whose husband Selahattin Demirtas is a former party co-president but has been in jail since 2016, will be nominated.

Some critics claim that the HEDEP has come to an arrangement with Erdogan to withdraw its support for Imamoglu´s re-election bid in return for Selahattin Demritas´s freedom.

Demirtas was in 2016 convicted of “terrorist propaganda” and sentenced to up to 142 years in jail.