Diyarbakır reacts: Kurdish voters weigh options after HDP folds on presidential race
On March 22, the alliance led by the pro-Kurd HDP announced it would not field a candidate, giving tacit support and an electoral boost to the main opposition’s presidential candidate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu.
"We'll fulfill our historical responsibility against the one-man rule," said HDP co-chair Pervin Buldan at a presser Wednesday, underlining her party’s goal to end the 20-year leadership of Turkish Pres. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
The decision gives added weight to votes from HDP supporters, who make up 10-12 percent of the electorate, and would once again place them as Turkey’s ‘kingmakers’ or ‘swing vote.’ That said, HDP votes will likely tip the balance in what appears to be a tight race between Erdoğan and Kılıçdaroğlu, as they did previously by aligning behind opposition candidates who swept the 2019 municipal elections.
As political parties finalize alliances and parliamentary candidates lists, HDP supporters are now weighing which presidential candidate they’ll back on the May 14.
To get a sense of Kurdish voter preferences in Diyarbakır, Turkey recap interviewed city residents from diverse political backgrounds between March 24-26. Most respondents shared a desire for improved living conditions but were divided on who would best deliver the change they sought.
HDP/CHP supporters
In Diyarbakır’s Bağlar district, the HDP and its predecessor parties have won all elections for the last 20 years without exceptions. In the 2018 elections, the HDP received 71.34 percent of the district’s vote, while the ruling AKP-MHP People's Alliance got 19.3 percent and the opposition’s Nation Alliance got 5.5 percent.
Ramazan Baran, 53, is among the residents who voted for pro-Kurd parties in every election. Though on May 14, Baran said he would most likely vote for Kılıçdaroğlu if the HDP directs its supporters to do so.
“The HDP is the key party for a change of power. For this, HDP has to make a decision,” Baran told Turkey recap. “Kılıçdaroğlu takes a more moderate approach to the solution of the Kurdish problem.”
Baran said he was more supportive of Kılıçdaroğlu after the candidate noted Kurdish words or phrases spoken in the Turkish parliament were classified as an “unknown language” in the parliamentary minutes.
“English, French and German are mentioned in the minutes, but Kurdish is mentioned as ‘X’ language,” Baran continued, noting TRT, the Turkish national broadcaster offers a Kurdish-language channel called TRT KURDÎ. “If Kurdish is an unknown language, then how is this channel broadcasted?”
Zelal Yavuz, 28, is another Bağlar resident who said she would vote for CHP chair Kılıçdaroğlu. She said her decision was based on the need to end the economic crisis and unify people in Turkey.
“I expect the HDP to support Kılıçdaroğlu,” Yavuz told Turkey recap, adding she believed the HDP and CHP could work together to address problems in Diyarbakır.
Yavuz continued, “My family votes for different parties. There are AK Party members , Hüda Par members , HDP members. But the way to democracy passes through the CHP. If we start with principles, equality, the Istanbul Convention and many rights for women, it is definitely CHP. The HDP attaches great importance to women, but I find it insufficient.”
AKP converts
In the 2018 elections, Diyarbakır as a province voted 65.5 percent for HDP, while 22.9 percent went to the ruling People's Alliance and 7 percent went to the opposition’s Nation Alliance.
Now some past AKP voters said they would switch and vote for the CHP on May 14. The most cited reasons for the conversion were poor economic conditions and the AKP’s alliance with the ultra-nationalist MHP.
One such convert is Sinan Balıkçı, who had been actively working in the AKP since 2012 and ran as a district candidate in Bağlar. Arguing Turkey has been sinking over the last 3-4 years, Balıkçı said the government, not the nation, was left under the rubble in the last earthquake.
“Have you seen Hatay and Maraş? Go see the misery there,” Balıkçı told Turkey recap. “We can do nothing but laugh at our miserable situation.”
Balıkçı said there are many problems that need attention, but he doesn’t see efforts to resolve them.
“You see the economy, people are hungry” Balıkçı said. “The government is not listening to its people anymore. There is nobody on their side anymore."
Balıkçı said he thinks the government should resign without waiting for elections and that it can no longer lead the country.
“We know that whoever the HDP supports in the elections will be in power,” he added.
Like Balıkçı, Hüseyin Özcan, 43, also voted for the AKP in the previous election, but is now considering voting for the HDP. He also attributes the reason to the economic situation.
Özcan said he would probably support whoever HDP points to in the presidential election.
“I have voted for the government until now, but I will not support it anymore,” Özcan told Turkey recap. “We don’t see the situation well. They say it’s good, but it’s not good. Although they say 'there is no difficulty in making a living,’ it is not so. Even if they say there will be a raise in salaries, it’s still not enough.”
AKP remainers
Meanwhile, there is indecision among AKP voters in the city. Some believe that after 20 years of AKP rule, there are no good people left around Erdoğan. They say that if the AKP works with bureaucrats who don’t take bribes, the country could make progress.
AKP supporters were also unsure if Kılıçdaroğlu could effectively run the country. They expressed concerns that conflicting inputs from the six parties in the Nation Alliance would create management problems for the opposition.
Still, while many expressed a desire for change, some voters were satisfied with the current administration.
Bülent Engin, a tradesman, said he has always voted for AKP and will likely do the same in the upcoming elections. Although he doesn’t see the AKP's situation as good for Diyarbakır, he thinks it’s good in Turkey, in general.
Engin said he saw on TV news that many countries around the world were experiencing economic downturns, and that the current crisis in Turkey was not solely made by domestic decisions.
“The minimum wage increased, but the economy cannot be improved because people are also opportunistic,” Engin told Turkey recap, referencing fluctuations in store prices during periods of rapid currency devaluation.
Arguing Erdoğan can solve money issues wherever he goes in the world, Engin noted the CHP would not charge earthquake victims 40 percent (as the AKP proposed) of the construction price for new houses, asking, “There is a cost of 104 billion dollars. Where will this money come from?’’
Regarding the six-party leadership pitched by the opposition alliance , Engin asked, "Is it better if one person sits at a cash register, or if six people sit at a cash register? If a man is a thief, he will steal.”
“When the Table of Six is in charge, each party will say ‘This is mine and that is mine,’” Engin said. “If it was just one party, I might have changed my mind. At the moment, I see Erdoğan's party as the best among the choices.”
Engin also said he believed if the opposition’s Nation Alliance came to power with help from the HDP, the pro-Kurd party would ask the CHP to release jailed HDP former co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş and jailed PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan.
Undecided
Fikret Başhan, 39, who to date has voted for the HDP, said he remains undecided in these elections.
The reason, he said, is he doesn’t see a party with broad-based thinking. Complaining that parties often pitch slogans of freedom and progress, Başhan said citizens continue to face financial and material hardship.
"They say we will share equal rights, but we have never seen that in this country. Not from the AK Party, CHP, HDP,” Başhan told Turkey recap. “We have not seen this from any parties since the proclamation of the Republic in 100 years. They say, 'We will do it all,' but they cannot do it after they come [to power].”
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Diego Cupolo, co-founder + editor @diegocupolo
Gonca Tokyol, freelance journalist @goncatokyol
Ingrid Woudwijk, freelance journalist @deingrid
Verda Uyar, freelance journalist @verdauyar
Gökalp Badak, editorial intern @gklpbdk
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