Turkey: Selahattin Demirtas, former HDP leader, announces his departure from politics

In Turkey, three days after the defeat of the opposition by Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the presidential election, an opposition figure draws lessons from this failure, and from the failure of his party in the legislative elections held on 14th May: Selahattin Demirtas, former leader of the pro-Kurdish HDP party, announces that he is leaving political life.

Former leader of Turkey's pro-Kurdish HDP party, Selahattin Demirtas, in prison in Edirne, May 2018. (Illustrative image). © Kurdish Peoples's Democratic Party (HDP) via AFP

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With our correspondent in Istanbul, Anne Andlauer

In an interview with the newspaper Arti Gerçek to be published on Thursday 1 June, and of which Selahattin Demirtas reproduces a short excerpt on Twitter, the Kurdish leader announces that he is "abandoning active politics". In prison since November 2016, but still very present on social networks and via interviews through his lawyers, Selahattin Demirtas takes note of a double defeat. His party, the HDP, lost votes again in the legislative elections, whereas it had already lost votes in the previous elections. On 14 May, the pro-Kurdish party – which would run under the colours of the Green Left Party (YSP) because of a risk of banning – won 8.8% of the vote, compared to 11.7% in 2018.

« Amateurism »

Moreover, the HDP's support for the opposition presidential candidate, Kemal Kiliçdaroglu, not only did not prevent the victory of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, but this election also highlighted the party's failure to mobilise its electorate. It was in the Kurdish-majority south-eastern regions that abstention increased the most between the first and second rounds. In a text published on Wednesday, Selahattin Demirtas harshly criticizes the "amateurism" of his party's campaign.

For his part, the candidate defeated in the presidential election Kemal Kiliçdaroglu still rules out resigning as head of his party, the CHP.

>> READ ALSO: "What will be the Turkey of tomorrow?": the day after its defeat, the Turkish opposition grinds black

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  • Turkey
  • Recep Tayyip Erdogan