Politics Heat Up as Elections Draw Close
Centre left parties united
The leaders of the Republican People's Party (CHP) and the Democratic Left Party (DSP), Deniz Baykal and Zeki Sezer, have announced their collaboration in the upcoming elections. Unlike the centre-right parties Motherland (ANAP) and True Path (DYP), which have chosen to unite under the banner of the "Democratic Party" (DP), the centre-left parties will remain separate.
Baykal and Sezer joined the Samsun "Republican rally" at the weekend. Baykal called for the parties' union to be followed by a union of the people, while Sezer claimed that the rallies had changed Turkey forever and predicted a positive future.
Final Republican rally
At the rally, Prof. Dr. Türkan Saylan, who is the president of the Support for Modern Life Association (CYDD), said that these meetings were "against sharia, against separatism, against the racism that turns children to murderers, against military coups". However, the rally seemed to be less energetic than its predecessors in other cities.
Campaign on the left
Meanwhile, a campaign to encourage leftist parties to send independent candidates to parliament has collected over 10,000 signatures. The "Istanbul Forum for Shared Independent Candidates on the Left" claims that the CHP and DSP do not represent the left. The forum is made up of various leftist parties, trade unions, NGOs, journalists, intellectuals, artists and other individuals.
The call for independent candidates is a result of the realization that no leftist party on its own will be able to overcome the electoral hurdle of 10 percent. Independent candidates are independent of a national party average, and can thus enter parliament more easily. The forum estimates that they could send over 50 MPs to parliament with this initiative, at least three of them from Istanbul.
Basic programme
The independent candidates would have to agree to a certain programme, which includes:
* Opposing war and imperialism
* Supporting democratization
* Opposing racism and nationalism
* Defending the rights of workers
* Opposing the neo-liberal policies of the IMF
* Supporting a fair, democratic and peaceful solution to the Kurdish issue
* Supporting women's rights
* Opposing damage to the environment
Because candidate lists have to be handed in by 4 June, it has been decided that the independent candidates will be decided on by 27 May.
Inspirations
This initiative would mean that for the first time since the military coup of 1980, there would be independent left MPs in parliament.
The movement has been inspired by articles in the "Radikal" newspaper by Ahmet Insel and Seyfettin Gürsel, but more importantly by the decision of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) to overcome the electoral hurdle by fielding independent candidates in its strongholds in the South-East of Turkey in these elections.
The DTP has expressed readiness to collaborate with leftist parties in Western Turkish cities, so that the "Kurdish vote" there would support leftist independent candidates.
Questions
There are several questions that remain to be answered. First, it is not clear whether all the left parties are willing to collaborate with representatives of Kurdish politics. Second, it remains to be seen whether all sides are willing to make sacrifices in order to field the most suitable three candidates for Istanbul.
Third, will the DTP give unconditional support to candidates who do not follow exactly the same political programme, but who stand for a politics of peace?
Should these three questions be answered in the affirmative, then Turks, Kurds, Alevites, Sunni, Green, Red, Purple, socialists, leftists, revolutionaries, in short, everyone, could vote for a "shared independent candidate" in this year's elections. (EK/NZ/AG/EÜ)