Turkey's parliamentary elections are this Sunday; Pro Kurdish People's Democracy Party looking to ea
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[quote]Turkey's left-wing pro-Kurdish People's Democracy Party (HDP) is set to play a crucial role in the upcoming parliamentary elections due on June 7, according to Turkish voters interviewed by Al Jazeera.
The party's absence - or presence - in the newly elected parliament may not only influence the balance of power in parliament but may also pose a serious challenge to the Justice and Development (AK) Party, Turkey's ruling party for the past 13 years.
[B]Recent surveys show the HDP to be on the verge of passing Turkey's unusually high 10 percent electoral threshold. A political party that passes the threshold automatically obtains around 50 seats in the 550-seat parliament, while parties that secure less than 10 percent of the votes do not make it to parliament.[/B]
The HDP presents itself as a party that [B]advocates democratic rule, human rights, social equality, social welfare, independent judiciary, and women's rights.[/B] "In a country where almost every group, other than ardent AK Party followers, feel like outsiders, the HDP platform is the strongest statement on behalf of all the others with its particular focus on women," Aysen Ertur, 60, a pensioner from the district of Kadikoy in Istanbul, told Al Jazeera.
The party, according to party pundits, [B]seeks to attract secular and liberal voters as well as non-Kurdish minorities, although the party does not make secret of its Kurdish identity. "Diversity is the reason why I will vote for the HDP,"[/B] said Demet Kazdal, 28, a translator. "They aim to represent a wide range of people. My priority is how they approach LGBT and women's issues and I think the HDP meets my criteria," Kazdal told Al Jazeera.
AK Party officials openly say that they do not want to see the HDP in the parliament as they charge the party is collaborating with the outlawed armed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
Moreover, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has been unofficially campaigning for the AK Party - from which he stepped down as party leader after being elected president - directly criticised the HDP in his speeches. The presidency is a constitutionally neutral position in Turkey.
[B]Erdogan repeatedly depicted it as a political party "supported by terrorism" or "ran by the terrorist organisation", in a veiled reference to the PKK.[/B]
Several voters told Al Jazeera they were reluctant to vote for the party due to the alleged link between the HDP and the PKK.
"Generally, my views are in line with the HDP's policy promises. However, the HDP seems not [to be] acting in line with their words," said Sinan Sunterler, 35, an IT expert from Bahcelievler in Istanbul. [B]"Talking about peace while walking hand-in-hand with the terrorist group PKK is not something I can accept,"[/B] Sunterler told Al Jazeera.
Other voters echoed similar views. Gorkem Nurata, a 37-year-old graphic designer from Kadikoy, said that while the HDP's promises sound good, the party's rhetoric was just a facade to hide their original Kurdish nationalist agenda.[/quote]
[url]http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2015/06/pro-kurdish-party-seeks-wider-reach-turkey-polls-150601191117208.html[/url]
[quote]As Turkish voters prepare to head to the polls on Sunday to elect a new parliament, public surveys indicate the conservative Justice and Development (AK) Party is in the lead.
[B]The AK Party, the ruling party for the past 13 years, is seeking to secure two-thirds of the 550 seats in the parliament in order to change the constitution to replace Turkey's 92-year-old parliamentary system for a presidential system.[/B]
However, the majority of surveys suggest that a victory with such a large margin is unlikely for the AK Party.
All the other three main parties likely to pass Turkey's ten percent threshold for entry parliament - the centre-left Republican People's Party (CHP), the Nationalist Action Party (MHP) and the left-wing pro-Kurdish People's Democracy Party (HDP) - are against such a change.
Along with the presidential system debate, economic promises, alleged corruption and waste within the state, and the Kurdish issue appear to be dominating the election. [/quote]
[url]http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2015/06/turkish-voters-sunday-poll-150602104317203.html[/url]
whatever the chickens do, they better be smart and vote for a secular party
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