HDP – People’s Democratic Party
The HDP is a recent national outfit, designed to be able to run in all of Turkey. It originates on the one hand from the BDP, a Kurdish democratic socialist party, and on the other hand from the HDK, a coalition of various left-wing movements in the rest of Turkey. The merger of these results in a left-wing collegial organization comparable to Syriza or Podemos. It actually takes a very left-wing stance on a number of subjects. Keep in mind that Turkey, for all the misconceptions the media can convey, must be home to the greatest number of left-wing splinter parties in the whole world. They nominate women for half of their candidates, and 10% are LGBT candidates. They are a rising star in Turkish political life, having polled 6% in the local elections, mostly in the mainly Kurdish South-East, and having polled nearly 10% in the following presidential election, where their support expanded a bit geographically, mostly in cities (9% in Istanbul, 8% in Izmir, but 1% or 2% in most of the rural West). Kurdish candidates don't have to run as independents to hope winning seats this time, they run for the HDP, but they also could lose all representation.
I can't believe that there's finally a Turkish political party I could support.
