“At our party assembly meeting held today, our congress date has been clarified. Our party will hold its fourth Extraordinary Grand Congress on Sunday, August 27, 2023,” read the statement HDP published on its official website, adding that the congress will be held in Ankara.
It is anticipated that the HDP will choose to merge with the Green Left Party, which was the umbrella party they ran under during the parliamentary election to evade an ongoing party shutdown case at Turkey's constitutional court.
"The methods of transferring the HDP's experience to the Green Left in a way that will maintain its institutional presence will be discussed," Mithat Sancar, HDP co-chair told reporters ahead of the meeting.
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 election and refraining from running a pure pro-Kurdish campaign. After the results of the election showed they had performed poorly, the party decided to hold the congress.
In June, Sancar and Pervin Buldan, the co-chairs of the party, announced stepping down from the top position at the party's next congress during a live broadcast. Buldan cited the weak election campaign and lack of diversity among their candidates as the main reasons for losing votes.
The HDP's loss of votes in the election caused criticism within the party. Many voices called for Buldan and Sancar to be held accountable and resign from their positions.
Late in May, 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.