Democratic People’s Party welcomes international monitoring of Turkish election
Democratic People’s Party welcomes international monitoring of Turkish election
Selahattin Demirtas, leader of the left-Kurdish Democratic People’s Party (HDP), is counting on the support of the international community to guarantee free and fair elections on November 1st. He is calling on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to cease interfering in the election campaign, which according to the country’s constitution the president is not supposed to do. Demirtas was a guest this week at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) at the invitation of SP Senator Tiny Kox, chair of the United European Left in PACE, the political group to which Demirtas' HDP is also affiliated.
Selahattin Demirtas of the HDP was a guest in Strasbourg at the invitation of Tiny Kox
Turkey must return to the polling booths on November 1st now that the AK Party of President Erdogan and Prime Minister Davutoglu has failed in its attempts to form a coalition able to count on a majority in the country’s parliament. This was in the wake of the surprisingly high tally of eighty seats won by the HDP at the expense of the AK Party in June’s general election. All opinion polls indicate that Demirtas will once again enjoy success in the election in November. The Council of Europe is to send international observers to Turkey to monitor the runup to the election. Senator Kox, who led the international observers’ mission in June, will once again participate in the European delegation.
In Strasbourg Demirtas spoke with a large number of MPs from the member states of the Council of Europe, the continent’s oldest and largest treaty-based organisation. He promises fundamentally different domestic and foreign policies should his party take part in a future governing coalition.