MESOP SURVEY : KURDS IN DBAKIR VOTE FOR PEACE – NO TO ERDOGAN/NO TO PKK!

Survey Shows 85% of Turkey’s Kurds Demand Peace Talks – The survey was conducted by the Diyarbakir-based Political and Social Research Center (SAMER)

Basnews English –  30 Sept 2016 ERBIL — According to a recent survey, the Kurds in Turkey highly demand peace talks to be resumed between the Turkish Government and the Kurdish Worker’s Party (PKK) to end the ongoing conflict. Sixteen major Kurdish cities took part in the survey, conducted by the Diyarbakir-based Political and Social Research Center (SAMER). The results showed that 85% of the participants support the idea of a new round of peace negotiations. 852 randomly selected households participated in the survey between the 31st of August and 7th of September. .

The hopes for new possible peace negotiations became stronger, after the PKK leader, Abdullah Öcalan, who has been imprisoned since 1999, sent a message through his brother, stating that he is ready to contribute to the peace process, calling on both sides to stop the violence. The survey shows that only 33% of the respondents approve the ongoing emergency situation in Turkey, which was declared a day after the coup attempt on the 15th of July 2016.

Furthermore, 50% of the Kurdish voters admit that they would vote for HDP if there were any elections, 35% of which said that the coup attempt was simply a scenario planned by the ruling party aiming to empower Erdogan. However, the survey also shows that 23% of the Kurds would support the ruling AKP and only a mere of 3 and 1 percent would support the two opposition parties, the Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). A majority of the rest of the voters admitted they would not vote for any of the current political parties.

Nonetheless, 55% of the Kurds believe that Turkey is not serious in the war against Islamic State (IS). Only nineteen percent of the participants said that Turkey’s main target in Syria is IS, compared to 57% who support the view that the main target for Turkey is the US-backed Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG). www.mesop.de