Ertuğrul Kürkçü: In Kurdish Towns People are Under Pressure with the Pretext of Fighting the PKK Guerrillas (EXCLUSIVE)

• 09.08.2015, 14:51
•  Region,  World,  Interview

Armedia" Information, Analytical Agency presents an exclusive interview with Honorary President of the People's Democratic Party (HDP) and the Deputy from western province of Izmir, Ertuğrul Kürkçü. 

-       Mr. Kürkçü, how would you describe the political situation in Turkey? What policy does AK party conduct towards other political parties?

-       We can surely say that Turkey is now passing to a political crisis. The situation is described by the President himself that he is attempting to change the regime in spite of the restrictions imposed by the Constitution. For that target President Erdogan has ruled out to accept the June 7 elections’results and have called for new early elections on November 1. If Erdogan’s AKP is able to pass the present 41% and raise its support to 45%, then it is going to be a majority in the parliament. If not, the present situation will go on. This causes a strong conflict between Erdogan’s party and other parties, especially between Kurdish people and the Turkish government. There is a risk that Turkey can fall into a wide chaos. Therefore, on our part we expect to have good results in the elections and call other political parties to gather around democratic principles. It is a very difficult situation, unless the international community discusses the situation in Turkey and pushes Erdogan to democratic values. Inner dynamics are at a stalemate and we see no near ending of this situation.

-       You already referred to the November 1 elections. Can we assume from what you said that you think your party will be able to preserve its places in the Parliament? And in general, what are your expectations from these early parliamentary elections?

-       Actually we are sure that we are going to keep our support and even raise our votes, because the problematic issues of June 7 elections still remain in place and the only power to stop Erdogan’s attempts to pass to full presidential system is HDP’s power. Therefore, people, who are going to vote for democracy, are in their place and the Kurdish people are, of course, going to vote for HDP with greater numbers. Therefore, we are going to preserve our places and even increase them. However, Tayyip Erdogan has started military attacks on Kurdish gains and in many Kurdish towns people are under pressure with the pretext of fighting the PKK guerrillas. However, we see that the real conflict is between the native people of those cities and the Turkish security forces, who want to get control of the municipalities, which are now governed by the elective mayors of the Kurdish people. Therefore, November 1 elections are hinging on the resistance of the Kurdish people against the Tayyip Erdogan’s military attacks in the south-east. We believe that the November 1 elections are going to be repetition, even on the bigger scale, of June 7 elections.

-       Taking into consideration the campaign the AKP started against the Kurds in Turkey, what are the difficulties your party is facing now?

-       The basic difficulty for us is that we cannot stop the war. We need the understanding of the Kurdish guerrillas to provide peaceful environment for the elections to be held. We are also very much concerned with the deaths of our people. Our party is both under the pressure of the government and the pressure of the war situation. It is really very difficult situation. We would like to find a way out with more peaceful policies adopted by PKK. The Turkish government is also violating the major basic human rights, so that they are conducting a wide-spread policy, particularly in the south-eastern Kurdish provinces. This is the major difficulty we are facing, but there is no decrease in the public support for us and there is no difficulty in reaching the electorate.