Turkish opposition shows solidarity with pro-Kurdish party

ISTANBUL, Turkey (Kurdistan 24) - A delegation from Turkey's main opposition Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) visited pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) lawmakers Wednesday who are on a weeklong Istanbul demonstration against the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

CHP's delegation led by its deputy leader Sezgin Tanrikulu, himself a Kurd, joined the HDP during a sit-in at a public park in Istanbul's Kadikoy district where Turkish police imposed tight measures to prevent the protest from growing, said a Kurdistan 24 correspondent there.

HDP's “justice and conscience watch” in Istanbul is the second leg of its protest against Erdogan government's crackdown on the Kurdish political movement that has seen thousands jailed, including over 80 mayors, a dozen lawmakers, as well as the party's charismatic co-leader Selahattin Demirtas.

Last week HDP finished its watch in the major Kurdish city of Diyarbakir where police did not allow anyone to participate in the lawmakers' demonstration.

Tanrikulu mentioned his party's last month "Justice Walk" headed by CHP leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu from capital Ankara to Istanbul.

He drew parallels between both opposition parties' efforts to stop what they view as an increasingly authoritarian Erdogan.

A group of HDP lawmakers had also shown solidarity with the CHP during its 25-day-long walk to Istanbul.

HDP lawmaker Filiz Kerestecioglu said the opposition had to work "hand in hand for the rule of law, peace, and democracy."

Founded by modern Turkey's father Mustafa Kemal Ataturk whose young republic implemented policies of genocide, assimilation, and denial of the Kurds, the CHP for decades stood against Kurdish aspirations for rights.

But as President Erdogan gained more power in a referendum on granting him executive authorities last April, the CHP found itself in the same line with the HDP.

In June, Kilicdaroglu visited HDP headquarters in Ankara and sat down with its co-chair Serpil Kemalbay, paving the way for closer cooperation between the two sides.

Editing by Ava Homa
(Kurdistan 24's Istanbul Bureau contributed to this report)