HDP calls for “social peace” in Turkey at first organizational congress

Party co-chair Sezai Temelli believed that the two-day congress would work to “bolster” organizational links between the party’s Diyarbakir center and its provincial offices, who have held 50 provincial congresses since mid-May, centering on the slogan “Let’s destroy fascism and democratize Turkey.”

Temelli outlined the obstacles faced by the party in the run-up to its congress. 

“This event has gone through many steps to reach today,” he told first-day conference attendees, adding that the “political climate” of the aftermath of March 31 local elections in Turkey “made it very difficult for us to hold such an event,” after Turkey’s electoral commission ruled to prevent winning HDP candidates who had previously been sacked for terror-related charges from taking office.

“However, despite the difficulty, we were able to work together and brought an important event of such importance to this day,” Temelli said. 

Founded in 2012, the HDP mediated a peace process between the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and Turkish state the following year. The process brought a short-lived, two and a half year pause to the decades-long conflict.

Originally founded in defense of Kurdish cultural and political rights, the HDP later sought to broaden its range of supporters. Now co-led by Temelli, an ethnic Turk from Istanbul, the party is now supported by Kurds, Turks, Alevis and other groups.
 
The HDP is now the third-largest party in Turkey, having won an 8.4% share of votes in the Turkish parliamentary election of June 2018.

In line with the diversification of its support base, the aim of this year’s organizational congress is to seek unity among opposition parties - a move away from congresses that have historically focused on Kurdish issues – and for “social peace” between Turkey’s various ethnic and religious groups.

It enjoys good relations with the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), particularly after the support of the HDP for the CHP candidate for a tightly-fought mayoral election in Istanbul earlier this year.
 
“As part of their political and historical responsibility for democratization and the resolution of Kurdish issue, each party has to have a public position. We call on all political parties, whether they have seats in parliament or not- and especially the CHP - to act in favor of social peace and fight against war-oriented politics,” the HDP’s website reported the co-chair as saying. 

However, it has always been at loggerheads with its main political adversary in the Kurdish-majority southeast of Turkey the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), headed by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who claim the HDP is the political wing of the PKK.

The HDP denies any organic links to the PKK, but is sympathetic to the philosophy of jailed PKK founder Abdullah Ocalan.