DEM Party ‘ready’ to negotiate with any political party to resolve Kurdish issue, says spox

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) – The pro-Kurdish DEM (“Time”) Party Spokesperson Ayşegül Doğan on Thursday announced in a press conference that they’re “ready to negotiate with any Turkish political party to resolve the Kurdish issue.”

The spokesperson also reaffirmed that they had no secret meetings with the Justice and Development Party (AKP).

The statement follows the DEM Party's decision to field a candidate in Istanbul and Ankara. The Turkish opposition parties claimed that it had agreed with the AKP since the pro-Kurdish party did not have candidates in Istanbul and Ankara previously, supporting the Republican People's Party (CHP).

"We have been accused of having secret meetings with the authorities [AKP]. We reiterate once again that our political tradition forbids us from holding secret meetings. They want to mislead DEM Party voters through false information," Doğan added.

On Feb. 4, the DEM Party announced it would have its own candidate for the upcoming Turkish local elections in Istanbul.

Read More: Pro-Kurdish party to back own candidate for upcoming Turkish elections

The decision hurt the chances of the CHP winning Istanbul.

In 2019, the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) did not field a candidate and backed the CHP, which allowed the CHP to win municipalities in Ankara and Istanbul in the 2019 local elections.

During the last national Turkish elections on May 14, the HDP endorsed CHP presidential candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu instead of running on their own.

However, the CHP still lost the elections to the ruling AKP.