What Do Candidates Think in Diyarbakır About the Elections?

Before the general election will be held on June 7, we were in Diyarbakır province on our Southeastern Anatolia tour with a group of journalists. Firstly, we talked to local journalists and then candidates from Justice and Development Party (AKP) and Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) and independent candidates from Free Cause Party (HÜDA-PAR).

Journalists indicated that AKP was in the minority in Diyarbakır province and electoral period was not going on a knife-edge because political parties didn’t let provocateurs.  

We interviewed with deputy candidate Seyyit Haşim Haşimi from AKP, İdris Baluken and Feleknas Uca from HDP and Zekeriya Yapıcıoğlu fromHÜDA-PAR.

Seyyit Haşim Haşimi:

“Explosions hit HDP headquarters in Mersin and Adana provinces. These attackers are shameless and disgraceful. They want to interrupt the resolution process but the most important question is why they attacked. Political parties condemned these attacks and this kind of attitude will fail provocations.”

Feleknas Uca:

“We connect all people. Our people think resolution process cannot continue without HDP. HDP must pass the election threshold. We need a radical change in the fields of democracy and human rights.“

Felenknas Uca is a Yezidi and she will be the first Yezidi to get into parliament. Uca said: “There is a great intolerance against the Yezidi in Turkey and Yezidi people were forced to leave country and immigrate to Europe.”

İdris Baluken:

“AKP tries to sabotage the resolution process but HDP always will take place in resolution process. HDP must get into parliament for process to speed up.”

Zekeriya Yapıcıoğlu:

“Voters can vote for whichever party they like. Some supporters of HDP and AKP will also vote for us in my opinion. We don’t seek to be the ruling party but we will be an out of the ordinary party.

“We take Islam religion as a reference. We will try to solve Kurdish problem on an equitable basis. The President said there was no Kurdish problem. The problem originates from nothing but state practice. Not from Kurds. It must be solved absolutely. We are all brother and sister in this country and we should keep this.”

Yapıcıoğlu said he disapproved the President Erdoğan’ waving Quran while asking people’s votes for AKP in the election meetings. (BK/BD)

* This tour has been made with the help of coordinatorship of P24.

Click here to read this article in Turkish