Former HDP Co-Chair Selahattin Demirtaş, who is incarcerated in Edirne Prison, assessed the local election for DW Turkish via his lawyers.
Stressing that preparation for the elections was not made under equal conditions, said, “More or less 95% of the media is under the ruling party’s control. All resources of the state treasury are used in an illegal manner for the ruling party’s election campaigns without limit or oversight. The same applies to the judiciary, civil service and law enforcement forces. They are used in an illegal manner.”
Saying, “The jails are filled with thousands of politicians, journalists, lawyers and students. The opposition parties and especially the HDP tried to run their election campaigns under harsh duress and threat,” Demirtaş commented, “The emerging result in the face of all this was a total rout for the ruling block. The opposition block succeeded in giving concrete expression to a democratic choice throughout these elections. I most certainly find this very important and meaningful.”
Saying that the HDP’s role was decisive in the results, Demirtaş said, “Even if I made a small contribution towards this despite being behind bars, I feel happiness and honour at this. In fact, this was the HDP’s success. It would be wrong to take this as being my success.”
Saying, “Everyone must treat the people’s will with respect. However, the people will neither accept this not forget it if its will at the ballot box is ignored,” Selahattin Demirtaş reacted as follows, “Provincial and sub-provincial electoral boards are acting unlawfully in discounting the objections of the opposition parties, including the HDP. A one-sided law is operated that protects and shields the ruling party. Just as at the courts, unfortunately the law has been suspended on many electoral boards.”
Saying the local elections were important but not the determinant of everything, Demirtaş stressed that the ruling party had for a long time embarked on the “wrong road.”
Noting, “The democratic struggle can determine how much further the political line that turns its back on democracy and places its hopes in fascism, oppression and threat will continue,” Demirtaş opined, “A powerful democracy front is coming into being and if political struggle rises up in every area there will be a speedy shifting of society’s course towards democracy.” (EVRENSEL DAILY)
Bülent Falakaoğlu
Hakkı Özdal
