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Turkey’s pro-Kurdish HDP names jailed leader as presidential candidate
Al-Monitor ^ | May 6, 2018 | Cengiz Candar

Posted on 05/07/2018 3:19:44 PM PDT by Texas Fossil

Turkey’s top Kurdish leader Selahattin Demirtas, one of the few names who proved he could challenge President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s charisma, has decided to run in the June 24 presidential elections, seemingly undaunted by the bars of his prison cell.

Turkey’s pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) announced Demirtas’ candidacy May 4. “Our candidate is Selahattin Demirtas, who is being held as a hostage in Edirne Prison,” HDP Co-chair Pervin Buldan was quoted by Hurriyet Daily news as saying in a statement.

Turkey’s westernmost province of Edirne is the farthest point from the predominantly Kurdish southeast where Demirtas’ main constituency is located.

Demirtas ran against Erdogan in the August 2014 presidential race, winning 9.8% of the votes, and, more importantly, raising hopes that for the next parliamentary elections a pro-Kurdish party might pass the 10% national election threshold for the first time in history.

Indeed, the HDP led by Demirtas won 13.1% of the vote on June 7, 2015, passing the threshold. Kicking that campaign off with a powerful slogan referring to Erdogan’s dream of an executive presidency — “We won’t let you become president” — the HDP’s election success also stripped the ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) of the parliamentary majority required to form a single-party government.

(Excerpt) Read more at al-monitor.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: candidate; demirtas; kurd; turkey
Imagine, a Presidential candidate running for office in a political prison in Turkey?

It will be interesting to see how Erdogan the Islamist will handle this.

1 posted on 05/07/2018 3:19:44 PM PDT by Texas Fossil
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To: Texas Fossil

From a legal standpoint you’d want your candidate to be able to serve if elected.

But an ethnic minority party that gets around 10% of the vote is no threat to come close to winning so what does it matter. Several minor US parties have run candidates for Pres/VP that weren’t eligible.


2 posted on 05/07/2018 3:49:02 PM PDT by Impy (I have no virtue to signal.)
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To: Impy

This candidate has not broken any law except he ran against the dictator and got over 10% of the vote. And he is friendly to Kurds. It is common in Turkey to build a coalition government because normally no one wins the majority directly.

Now, with Erdogan the Islamist as the dictator with his emergency powers he can arrest whoever he likes and if he does not like how the court rules, he overturns the judgment and fires the Judge.

How is that for a system?


3 posted on 05/07/2018 5:36:18 PM PDT by Texas Fossil ((Texas is not where you were born, but a Free State of Heart, Mind & Attitude!))
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To: Texas Fossil

Maybe they should give them the George III treatment.


4 posted on 05/07/2018 6:21:56 PM PDT by Impy (I have no virtue to signal.)
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To: Impy

Whatever it takes.


5 posted on 05/07/2018 8:47:44 PM PDT by Texas Fossil ((Texas is not where you were born, but a Free State of Heart, Mind & Attitude!))
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