‘Kurds will be decisive’: Erdoğan opponent piles on Turkey election pressure from prison

Source:Financial Times Date:06Apr2023

Selahattin Demirtaş, who led the leftwing Peoples’ Democratic party (HDP), Turkey’s third-biggest political group, before he was jailed in 2016 on charges of supporting terrorism, said a unified opposition that included Kurds could prevent a descent into “dictatorship”. “Step by step, Turkey has moved towards an authoritarian regime. If Erdoğan wins this election, Turkey will have transitioned to a new kind of dictatorship,” Demirtaş said in response to questions submitted through his lawyer.

The HDP, whose base is mostly Kurdish, has not formally joined the six-party coalition backing centre-left Republican People’s party leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu for president. But it has opted not to nominate its own candidate to avoid splintering the opposition vote.