The Eastern Desk: How the CHP is trying to sway Kurdish voters
"During our contacts, people asked us why we were late. They didn’t ask why we came."
This is how Oğuz Kaan Salıcı, deputy chairman of CHP and the founder of the party's "Eastern Desk," described his party's pre-election work in Turkey's Kurdish-majority eastern provinces.
According to Salıcı, the CHP has "established a dynamic connection with the region again." Though he admitted they had not yet reached their full potential.
"Our work with the Eastern Desk has taken us a long way, and we are delighted," Salıcı said. "But even if the CHP becomes the top party in Turkey, if we cannot represent this region politically or get a meaningful vote from the area, this is a shortcoming for us. So, we still have a long way to go."
With elections two months away, Turkey’s main opposition party has dedicated significant resources to increasing support among Kurdish voters in the nation’s southeast.
Their Eastern Desk is part of a campaign strategy to address past criticism that saw the CHP labeled as a “signboard party” or “tabela partisi” in the area, a term meaning the party was present only as a signboard on regional offices, but not in influence or actions.
Established in 2021, the CHP’s Eastern Desk serves to coordinate the party’s outreach and fieldwork in cities where Kurdish voters are concentrated. It has also facilitated and hosted mayors' workshops in towns and cities throughout the region.
A Tribe Called Request
The outreach appears to be working as many Kurdish tribes (aşiretler) have since joined the CHP, including the Ertuşi, Badıkan, Diri, Şedadi, Dına, and Asi tribes, strengthening the party’s links to provinces like Mardin, Şırnak, Van, Urfa, Hakkari and Muş.
CHP chair and the joint opposition presidential candidate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has even personally worn the badges of some tribal leaders during his coalition-building meetings.
Such efforts have attracted support beyond tribal networks. Nuşirevan Elçi, who served as chairman of the Şırnak Bar Association for three terms, is also among the new members of the CHP. Elçi's uncle Şerafettin Elçi was the Founding Chairman of the Participatory Democracy Party (KADEP) and served as a minister in the Turkish government.
CHP’s Salıcı described tribes as "a fact of life in the region" and added: "Of course, some tribe leaders joining the CHP is a meaningful thing, but whether this will correspond to large numbers of votes has yet to be seen."
Though Salıcı said the main opposition party has been pleased to foster connections with regional tribes and community leaders, an HDP executive who spoke to Turkey recap in Diyarbakır last September was not sure declarations of support from those tribe leaders would always translate to full support among tribe members.
Mehmet Kaya, a prominent lawyer from Diyarbakır, echoed the HDP official’s sentiments.
"Although some tribal elders are still regarded with respect in society, it is not possible to say their prestige and influence will change the fate of the elections," Kaya told Turkey recap. "The CHP would attract more attention through political dialogue and joint action for change with the HDP rather than tribes.”
I’ve Got The Power Shift
On the other hand, Roj Girasun, director of Rawest Research, said the increasing tribal interest in the CHP over the last year should be considered a sign of a power shift in the region.
"The tribes have been going back and forth between center-right parties and Kurdish politics from past to present," Girasun told Turkey recap.
He continued, "The growing power of the CHP led these tribes to the party. I attribute this to the change in the perception of power. Tribes still do not have great power over voters’ decisions, but joining the CHP signifies regional power shifts."
According to the research conducted by Rawest Research in Diyarbakır, Mardin, Urfa, and Van, AKP voter support in the provinces decreased from 34.7 percent, recorded during 2018 elections, to 23.8 percent in June 2022, when the survey was conducted.
In the same period, the HDP's support did not change significantly. The CHP, meanwhile, saw increased support from 2.7 percent to 9.8 percent and became the second-most favored party among first-time Kurdish voters.
Girasun attributed the CHP gains in the surveyed provinces to ideological shifts.
"The CHP opened its doors beyond its own neighborhood, which is one factor that facilitates this," he said. "Kurdish voters have been watching and admiring this opening toward Kurdish and conservative neighborhoods, but this did not turn into support."
The change in voter preferences came, according to Girasun, after the HDP’s decision to back CHP candidates in Turkey’s largest cities during the 2019 local elections.
"It was a tactical vote,” Girasun said. “But over time, that support became more permanent. That move melted the ice between the Kurdish voters and the CHP."
Still Peace Processing
Then there is the Kurdish issue. On the topic, Salıcı said "The CHP has never been in a state of denial" and the party's criticisms about the peace process (2013-2015) between the AKP and the Kurdish movement proved to be meaningful.
"One of our main criticisms was that the parliament did not resolve this issue. At the point we have reached today, other parties say the same thing," Salıcı said.
In a documentary released last year by journalist Günel Cantek, Kılıçdaroğlu said the HDP and parliament should work together to resolve the Kurdish issue. His words were welcomed by HDP's jailed former co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş, though HDP officials added "İmralı" should also be at the resolution table.
Meaning HDP members said PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan, who has been jailed on İmralı island since 1999, should be an actor in a future peace process. This remains a highly sensitive topic, and more so after Öcalan’s last-minute call to "neutrality" before the 2019 local elections.
Despite the rare announcement, a significant amount of Kurdish votes went to CHP candidates, particularly in İstanbul, İzmir, Mersin and Adana.
Noting CHP-held municipalities have since helped the party reach Kurdish voters in new ways, Ulaş Tol, director of TEAM Research, told Turkey recap there were additional factors for the CHP's gains in eastern provinces.
"The [ruling] People's Alliance has lost the most of the votes among the Kurdish electorate over the last two years," Tol said. "The economic situation has been one of the main reasons people are abandoning the People's Alliance, and Kurdish voters are among those most affected by economic turbulence."
According to Tol, when the government's "problematic" policies and approaches to the Kurdish issue were combined with economic hardship, AKP-supporting Kurdish voters were able to turn to the CHP with more ease than peers in Western cities.
Girasun, from Rawest, agreed that the main opposition party now sees an electorate shift.
"Tension between secularism and conservatism among Kurdish voters is lower in comparison to Turkish voters," Girasun said. "Kurdish AKP voters were following Kılıçdaroğlu, and now, this appreciation has started to change into voter support [for CHP]."
"Yet there’s a gap between the trust Kurdish voters have in the CHP party mindset and the trust they have in Kılıçdaroğlu," he added. "Kurdish voters trust Kılıçdaroğlu, with an assessment that is far from the institutional memory of the party. But they are not yet convinced the change within the CHP is permanent."
Kıl Switch
To persuade Kurdish voters who remain skeptical, Kılıçdaroğlu has made some highly symbolic visits to figures and places in the southeast.
In late 2021, Kılıçdaroğlu met with Emine Şenyaşar, who lost her spouse and two sons during an attack by the security guards and relatives of AKP lawmaker İbrahim Halil Yıldız. He also traveled to the border town of Roboski last year, where 34 people died in air raids carried out by the Turkish Air Force in 2011. Kılıçdaroğlu promised to clarify what happened in Roboski during his visit.
Kaya, the lawyer, attributes the regional increase in CHP support to the party's stance against Ankara’s most recent attempts to launch a new Syria operation as well as the visit to the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government.
"The CHP leader's statements that they see the Kurdish problem as a Turkish problem and that they will solve it on the parliamentary floor is another important factor for the increase," Kaya said. "Kurdish voters read these developments as a change in the CHP."
Reiterating the political gestures displayed by Kılıçdaroğlu have not yet been reflected the opposition’s formal pledges, Kaya added current appeals continue to be met with suspicion.
"Considering that there is little time left for the elections, the CHP should take more reassuring steps," to convert skeptical Kurdish voters, Kaya said.
Previously, Kılıçdaroğlu said he would visit the HDP after the Nation Alliance declared a joint presidential candidate. HDP Co-Chair Mithat Sancar welcomed his words and stated that they were waiting.
İYİ Party's Meral Akşener said that the CHP could meet with the HDP but could "never" bring them to the table of the main opposition alliance. Kılıçdaroğlu is expected to visit HDP this week.
Noting Kılıçdaroğlu was more appealing to Kurdish voters and had less nationalist "baggage" than Ankara mayor Mansur Yavaş and Akşener, Tol said it was not possible to describe the appeal as an emotional bond.
"If the candidate had been [İstanbul Mayor Ekrem] İmamoğlu and not Kılıçdaroğlu, there would have been a similar level of support," Tol said. "It is not an attitude towards the names of the candidates. It is more of a collective attitude. I don't expect many HDP voters to refute [an HDP] decision to vote for the joint candidate."
On the other hand, what non-HDP Kurdish voters do depends on the AKP’s coming actions, according to the researcher. At the time of reporting, AKP officials were in talks to secure support from the leadership of the ultra-conservative Kurdish party, HÜDA PAR.
"If the government's Kurdish policy keeps disturbing them, there is a strong possibility that Kurds will support the CHP candidate,” Tol said.
He continued, “But if that’s not the case, the high level of religiosity among voters who left the AKP may prevent them from voting for Kılıçdaroğlu, but I don't think Kurds who broke away from the AKP will support Erdoğan. At worst they won't vote."
Gonca Tokyol contributed reporting from İstanbul.
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Diego Cupolo, co-founder + editor @diegocupolo
Gonca Tokyol, freelance journalist @goncatokyol
Ingrid Woudwijk, freelance journalist @deingrid
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