HDP's Kürkçü: A massive struggle awaits our people

The HDP’s and its presidential candidate Selahattin Demirtaş’s election manifestos are being made public today in Ankara

HDP member of parliament Ertuğrul Kürkçü, who will address the meeting at which presidential candidate Selahattin Demirtaş's and the HDP’s election manifestos will be announced, has alleged that Erdoğan will not relinquish power even if he loses the 24 June election.

Kürkçü, who said, “This election looks like an election that will drag out and will not just finish at the ballot box. A massive struggle awaits our people,” made the following statement on camera to Ali Haydar Çelebi, who was covering the meeting:

“As opposed to previous elections, in these elections there will be a manifesto in which we will set out, not just democratic demands, but economic demands and measures aimed at transforming the economy and combatting poverty and alternatives to the government’s neo-liberal policies. There are undoubtedly social and political alliances centred around ensuring the dictatorship suffers defeat. It is most natural for them to exist. But, of course, we will endeavour to portray the HDP through the manifesto as the sole democratic alternative against the dictatorship. The presidential election undoubtedly constitutes the most critical point of the election, because Selahattin Demirtaş will contest this election as a hostage and President Tayyip Erdoğan is content with this. The other opposition candidates should be calling insistently for Demirtaş's release rather than making a few off-the-cuff comments. As such, in order to deliver a proposal for a democratic transformation out of an exceptionally unjust, fraudulent, aggressive and tyrannical election we will try to make it through this process, not just through our manifesto, but by turning this election into an arena for struggle. Will the election results be able to persuade Erdoğan to leave the palace on 25 June? I am not sure of this. He will make a point of not accepting the results of this election. So, this election looks like an election that will drag out and will not just finish at the ballot box. A massive struggle awaits our people.”