MESOP SHORT CUT: Three Kurdish Parties to Participate in Turkey’s Municipal Elections

26.03.2014 – Mewan Dolamari – BasNews, Erbil – Three Kurdish political parties will participate in the upcoming municipal elections in Turkey, set to be held on March 30. The Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) is the biggest Kurdish party in Turkey. It is in close competition with the Justice and Development Party (AKP) to gain the municipalities that went to the AKP in the 2009 election.

Statistics show that support for the BDP has increased significantly.

Besides the BDP, there are two other Kurdish parties – the Right and Liberties Party (Hak-Par) and the Free Cause Party (Huda Par) – but they have less support than the BDP. In the last election, Hak-Par won 20,000 votes and now they have decided to take part in the upcoming municipal election as well. Huda Par is an Islamic party consisting of people who were previously operating under the name of Hizbullah in Turkey. Although three Kurdish parties will participate in the election in Turkey, Hak-Par and Huda Par are not expected to win any municipalities due to a lack of support. However, the BDP is recognized as being strong enough to compete with the AKP, whose leader is Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the current Prime Minister of Turkey.