Speaking during a live broadcast on MedyaHaber TV, HDP co-chairs Mithat Sancar and Pervin Buldan announced stepping down from the role at the party’s next congress.
Turkey held parliamentary and presidential elections on May 14, with HDP losing six seats compared to the 2018 vote. The party sent 61 members to the 600-seat legislature. The party has been criticized for supporting opposition candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu in the presidential elections and refraining from running a pure pro-Kurdish campaign. After the poor results of the elections were announced, the party decided to hold congress.
“I am ready to do whatever is my part at every stage of this struggle, but considering all the criticisms, I would be very honoured to give the co-chair [position] to another friend in this congress,” Buldan said, stressing that the decision to hold a congress was taken after meetings with the party boards since they failed to achieve their goals in the elections.
Buldan said that the party’s weak election campaign and lack of diversity among their candidates was one of the main reasons for losing votes.
“We did not go outside of circles, we couldn’t grow. We lacked inclusion of different components among us, for example, the lack of Armenians, Yazidi or disabled representations were one of the important shortcomings,” she said.
HDP losing votes in the election prompted criticism within the party bases towards the administration, with voices clamouring to hold Buldan and Sancar accountable and resign from their positions.
On Wednesday, jailed Kurdish politician and former HDP co-chair Selahattin Demirtas announced temporarily leaving politics following the party’s loss. Demirtas was actively campaigning during the elections on his Twitter account, which is believed to be run by his lawyers who frequently visit him.
“Thank you for constructive criticism towards me. I will try to benefit from the criticism,” said Demirtas in a tweet which he said was part of a written interview with a news outlet.
.jpeg&w=3840&q=75)
