Election and the Kurdish region

One of the most interesting aspects of this election has been the result in the Eastern and South Eastern Anatolian region that is dominated by Kurds. The Kurdish politics has seen several tectonic changes since the time of its inception and has changed many colours depending on the time and situation.

When the Kurdish politics in a dominant form started till early 90s, it was still a local issue and hence part of the larger political discourse. The then Kurdish politicians and political forums (not parties) used to align themselves to Leftists, Rightists or Centre-Left and Centre-Right parties depending upon their own interpretations and thus forward their demands. These Kurdish centric demands used to form a part of the manifesto of these parties. However, something happened in 90s and things changed dramatically. The formation of People’s Labour Party (HEP) led to the complete altering of the politics in the region. It was essentially a regional Kurdish outfit with regional aspirations that had only one agenda: Kurdish.

Naturally, the traditional parties ran for cover. They were unable to stop the popularity of an ethnic party in an ethnic-oriented discourse and thus hardened their stature and toner on the issue. Leftists and Rightists alike succumbed to the lure of a security oriented solution and what was initiated in the region was a reverse democratization process.

In the advent of the new millennia, another party, DTP, came into foray and managed to win 12 out of 16 seats in the region. The AKP was yet to register its popularity in the region in that election. However, it did emerge as a national alternative to the regional aspiration and gave DTP a run for their money in several seats.

The effect came in force in 2007 election where DTP was pushed to second position and managed to win only 5 seats. AKP’s manifesto for a peaceful solution indeed found takers and people fed up with the atrocities of PKK chose it over regional outfits.

In that regard, the setback received by AKP in the region in this election is interesting to interpret. BDP, another regional outfit that supported independent candidates managed to wrest a majority. “The BDP had a two-pronged strategy in this election. It brought together all the Kurdish groups opposed to PKK under one umbrella. It ended up with an alliance with the Participatory Democracy Party (KADEP) and the Rights and Freedoms Party (HAK-PAR). Second, it nominated candidates that appealed to religious people. Jointly, not only did it manage a combined opposition against AKP, it appealed to the conservative base as well,” explains Vahap Cosun, an expert on the Kurdish issue at Dicle University.
 
AKP depended heavily on nationalistic though democratic theory of integration mostly to push MHP away from scene. Also, its targeting of BDP as someone close to PKK led to lots of negativity. It harmed party’s prospects in the region. BDP has managed to garner good votes and ended up sending 34 deputies as independent compared to 22 in the last election. Clearly, the demand of the situation is for AKP and BDP to work closely and find a solution for the issue. The days of MHP and CHP like rhetoric are over.