HDP appears to reject alleged Istanbul election message by jailed Ocalan

ARK News: Turkey’s staunchly pro-government Anadolu Agency on Thursday claimed the imprisoned leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), Abdullah Ocalan, has called on the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) to remain neutral in the upcoming local elections in Istanbul on Sunday.

Anadolu and private media aligned with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s administration reported that sociologist Ali Kemal Ozcan had earlier in the day met with Ocalan at the Imrali island prison near Istanbul and returned with a hand-written letter in which the PKK leader asked the HDP to reverse its policy of supporting the Turkish opposition.

“It has come to attention that a climate burdened with social problems, polarizing and conflict-inciting rhetoric surrounding the Kurdish issue has arisen in Turkey. The HDP has taken a stance centered on democratic foundations in the face of such factors mentioned above created by the People’s Alliance and the Nation alliance,” the letter allegedly read, referring to Erdogan’s far-right electoral alliance and the opposition led by the Peoples’ Republican Party (CHP) respectively.

“We are going to build democracy by taking the people’s side against the mindset of looting, corruption, and occupation. We will come victorious on June 23 just as we did on March 31,” HDP’s Istanbul branch tweeted in Zazaki Kurdish minutes after Turkish state media reported of a purported letter by Ocalan essentially telling the party to withdraw its support for the Turkish opposition.

The party is telling its voters to choose the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) candidate Ekrem Imamoglu as Istanbul mayor against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) candidate Binali Yildirim.

“Our votes are for democracy, peace, and freedom. Say no to those who wish to get even stronger through leeching on Istanbul,” the party headquarters in Ankara posted in Turkish.

Shortly before, Kurdish academic Ali Kemal Ozcan, known for his past remarks supportive of Erdogan, had brought forward a hand-written letter he received personally from Ocalan during a meeting earlier in the day.

“Considering that domestic, regional, and global issues are becoming more complicated, it is imperative to preserve this approach of a third way. As such the HDP’s democratic stance should not be a prop or side to the current election debates,” the letter read, calling on the HDP to boycott Istanbul elections, a scenario in which Erdogan’s party clearly wins.

HDP’s decision is ultimately reasoned on a years-long massive crackdown by Erdogan’s administration on Kurds in Turkey, its war on Syrian Kurds such as the occupation of Afrin, and fierce objection through repeated threats to the Kurdistan Region’s independence referendum in late 2017.

Ozcan is not a relative of Ocalan, nor one of his lawyers as the exact circumstances and judicial reasoning behind the alleged meeting remains unknown.

A figure with past remarks supportive of Erdogan, he appears to have been sent to Imrali island in the inland sea of Marmara by the Erdogan administration itself.

Ozcan, the head of Munzur University’s Sociology department in the Kurdish city of Dersim, showed the media a two-page letter by Ocalan during a press conference in Istanbul.

He further claimed that Ocalan had given a similar statement to his lawyers through Turkish judicial authorities on June 18.

Ocalan’s lawyers at the Istanbul-based Asrin Law Firm refrained from denying or confirming any of the allegations Ozcan made and Erdogan’s media reported.

Imamoglu won Istanbul on March 31 during the nationwide local elections with a small margin largely thanks to the HDP’s decision not to field a candidate and channel over a million of its votes to him.

Source: K24

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