[P2P-F] Fwd: [NetworkedLabour] Fwd: [WSF-Discuss] What Does the HDP (People’s Democracy Party), in Turkey, Stand For?

Sat Jun 27 09:45:17 CEST 2015

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Örsan Şenalp <orsan1234 at gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Jun 8, 2015 at 3:42 PM
Subject: [NetworkedLabour] Fwd: [WSF-Discuss] What Does the HDP (People’s
Democracy Party), in Turkey, Stand For?
To: "networkedlabour at lists.contrast.org" <networkedlabour at lists.contrast.org
>

a piece thinking of HDP - Syriza - Podemos in one line:

-------- Doorgestuurd bericht --------
Onderwerp: [WSF-Discuss] What Does the HDP (People’s Democracy Party),
in Turkey, Stand For?
Datum: Mon, 8 Jun 2015 12:23:27 +0530
Van: Sukla Sen <sukla.sen at gmail.com>
Antwoord-naar: Discussion list about the WSF
<worldsocialforum-discuss at openspaceforum.net>
Aan: foil-l at insaf.net

[This well informed write-up had been penned, obviously, before the
outcome of the parliamentary poll was out.]

http://scroll.in/article/732412/turkey-gets-a-taste-for-european-style-radicalism-ahead-of-election

Turkey gets a taste for European-style radicalism ahead of election
With plans to shake up democracy, it's no wonder the HDP is being
compared to Syriza and Podemos.
Omer Tekdemir, The Conversation  · Yesterday · 08:30 pm

The election taking place in Turkey on June 7 is an important turning
point for the country’s political system. A central issue in this
contest is whether more power should be transferred from the Turkish
parliament to the president – as is hoped by incumbent Recep Tayyip
Erdoğan.
Standing against Erdoğan’s ruling AKP (Justice and Development Party)
is a new party called the HDP (People’s Democracy Party). This was
formed out of a collection of 36 once independent members of
parliament.

What is the HDP?

The HDP has emerged as a radical democratic project, built on the
foundations laid by pro-Kurdish political parties (from HEP to the
BDP). It seeks to challenge the established order, aiming to radically
transform the AKP’s neo-liberal and conservative understanding of
democracy with a so-called passive revolution. For many, it is
Turkey’s equivalent to Greece’s Syriza and Spain’s Podemos political
parties and social movements.

The HDP manifesto for the parliamentary election calls for bringing
humanity back into politics. There is a strong emphasis on equal
rights for women, LGBT people and workers and on social security for
all. There are plans to increase the minimum wage, tackle youth
unemployment and provide everyone with a basic package of free water
and electricity. The party also emphasises free healthcare and
education as well as peace – including by ending trade embargoes
against Armenia.

When it comes to the EU, the HDP says it would pursue full membership
“within the scope of our principles” – suggesting that like Syriza in
Greece, the party has some scepticism about neo-liberal aspects of the
union by offering an alternative EU project.

Significantly, the party would also shift the state away from religion
and promote freedom of belief, ending the requirement for all children
to have a religious education and abolishing the government’s
Directorate of Religious Affairs – the body the oversees the practice
of Islam in Turkey.

The HDP also has bold ideas about Kurdistan. Turkish politics has, for
30 years, been characterised by the battle between the PKK (Kurdistan
Worker’s Party) and the Turkish armed forces. Over this time, 40,000
people have died and three million have been displaced as the PKK
fought for a separate, “free” Kurdistan.

The HDP’s view is that Kurdish rights are more likely to be achieved
by radically reforming Turkish democracy. It wants to decentralise
Turkish politics, setting up regional assemblies to ensure that all
“ethnic identities” have the right to self governance.

A transnational movement

The rise of the HDP comes as the radical left is sweeping to power
elsewhere in Europe, seeking to give a voice to the voiceless. The
best known is of course Syriza in Greece, which won the February 2015
election by offering an alternative to established politics.

Most recently, in Spain, left-wing collective Podemos won 15 seats in
Andalusia’s regional parliament – its first serious election since it
secured five seats in the European parliament and joined the European
new left. Podemos has its roots in protest movements and later became
connected to anti-austerity social movements.

The HDP has links with these groups and is continuing the
transnational trend on the periphery of the EU. Yiannas Bournous, a
member of Syriza’s central committee, attended the HDP’s election
rally in İzmir a few weeks before polling day and a Syriza delegation
visited Kobanê in 2014 to show the party’s support for the Kurds
there.

On top of its political heritage, the HDP also has links with the
serhıldan (the Kurdish intifada), Kurdish street movement and the more
recent, Occupy Gezi movement.

Like its European counterparts, the HDP is seeking to bring greater
democratic power to citizens, giving them a greater say in the issues
that affect them, from the environment, individual rights such as
abortion and employment security.

Then there is young, charismatic co-chairman Selahattin Demirtaş – who
won 9.8% of the votes cast in Turkey’s presidential election of August
2014. He has been compared to Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras and Podemos
leader Pablo Iglesias.

Demirtaş is popular among not only his own party but many groups who
feel ostracised by the Turkish political structure, which is dominated
by the centre right and centre left – from Alevis, Christians and Jews
to ethnic minorities such as Georgians, Arabs, Turkmens, Albanians and
Lazs.

Even as Turkey seeks to emulate the EU by evolving into a modern,
neo-liberal society, these groups are often the most excluded and
alienated members of society. They do not have a particularly high
public profile and are not represented by the mainstream parties.

The HDP has thrived by building an allegiance between the Kurdish
movement and other social and political democratic forces struggling
against this exclusion.

Just as Syriza and Podemos have appealed to the people who feel
forgotten by their governments, the HDP is doing the same through
offering a new model of life with a radical plural democratic
political project.

Success may be harder for this new player though. It stands little
chance of getting into government but if it can pass the (extremely
high) election threshold of 10% of the national vote, it can win a
place in parliament and begin to have an influence over the democratic
direction of the country.

This article was originally published on The Conversation.

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