Why Kurds Have the Voice Now?

By Hanar Marouf:

Pivotal elections in Turkey shifted the unexpected results to a historical advance. The actions started in January when the Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP) announced its running under the party’s name not independently. The result was a big blow to the Justice and Development Party (AKP).

HDP’s leader Selahattin Demirtas has had a mighty influence on Kurds. He could boost the votes in his party from 6.2% to 9.7%. Demirtas with his liberal and left leaning system, which is contradictory to Erdogan’s mentality, could secure people’s votes. The party gained 13% of the votes not only from the Kurds, but also from some Turkish seculars who opposed Erdogan’s kingdom. For the first time in history, Kurds will lead 79 HDP MPs into the Turkish parliament, which considered as an ultimate flourish.

Why Now?

The bomb attack on the Kurdish rally in Diyarbakir during the election campaign period augmented the votes for Demirtas when he urged his followers not to use violence or take to the streets. His diplomatic response was a boon to his campaign and his inclination for promoting peace served him a lot. Lately his party’s Twitter account launched a peace campaign, “peace will win” to sooth the situation.

Demirtas earned the heart of his followers because of his courage in standing against Erdogan. His rhetorical way of arguing has the power to capture the minds and hearts of any listener. The HDP played a respectable strategic role in promoting human rights and peace during the campaign, which is a missing sphere in Erdogan’s kingdom.

Another factor was be the emergence of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). This extremist group has bonded the Kurds more than ever. Kurds have been known globally as boots on the ground against ISIS for their bravery in facing the threat with no fear. The recapturing of Kobani has raised the public opinion on Kurds’ courage in standing up for their land and their dignity. Meantime, Erdogan had no actions toward the Kurds sorrow in Kobani, which led even conservative Kurds not to vote for him this time.

By the same token, the cantons of Rojava, which have been controlled by Syrian Kurds, along with the power of Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq encouraged Kurds in Turkey to fight even more to reach what the other parts had accomplished so far. Kurds are worn-out from hearing the same pledges over and over again from AK and that led the party to lose its popularity among the Kurds.

What will happen with HDP’s Success?

Things began to go off the rails with the Kurds’ success. The HDP prevented the absolute rule of AK, which used to have 330 seats out of 550. Erdogan’s whim to have a presidential system would now be hard to achieve. The HDP now is one of the opposition voices and poised for new transformations. With the Kurds’ win, the Kurdish question will rise more than before and the room for bargaining on the cases of Abdullah Ocalan and other imprisoned leaders of the PKK might increase.

To this end, if Demirtas is serious on delivering Kurdish demands, he needs to cooperate with the AK party. The AK party is still the wining party and it has presence in the predominantly Kurdish speaking provinces. However, it is premature in this stage to imagine the two parties having synergy. The results of Kurds placed them at the center of Turkey’s politics, yet this is only the beginning and the Kurds are expecting a lot from the promises they have heard from their leader. This recent result will show whether pluralism can work between Kurds and Turks or if the peace process will be harder than the HDP imagined.

Hanar Marouf is a human rights activist based in Suli and an MA student in Politics and International Relations.