Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) Executive Council Member Mustafa Karasu wrote an article for Yeni Özgür Politika newspaper and assessed the June 24 snap elections and importance of HDP’s success. We publish the English version of the article by Karasu below:

“On June 24 Turkey will go to the poll to vote both the parliament and the new President.

These elections were scheduled in an attempt to legitimize the AKP-MHP fascism.

There will be no change in the policy of the AKP-MHP government. Tayyip Erdogan, if elected President again, will continue its fascist rule with the AKP-MHP alliance which will be more violent than the old days of war.

Even pre-election chauvinism is revealing new battlefields.

Kurds in Turkey are currently leading those who want to defeat the fascist genocide. The danger of genocide applies to all different identities every time the religion is polished with nationalism. When the fundamentalism of religion and nationalism meet in Turkey, this is definitely giving birth to genocide.

Those who are suspicious do not understand the character of the Turkish state nor do they understand what religious nationalism means!

From our perspective, there is unquestionably a fascist power in Turkey. On June 24 when we’ll know the election results we will know whether people of Turkey approve the terms of this fascism or not.  

Clearly one election results will not change a rooted political mentality and understanding in Turkey. However, if the existing AKP-MHP fascist government is not rewarded in the election this will bring positive results as far as the struggle of the democratic forces is concerned.

However, as in the past years, we should not make the mistake of focusing the struggle solely on winning the election. When we send to the Assembly 60-70 MPs it would be a mistake to think that Turkey will be democratised.

In a truly democratic country, of course, elections are an important way to solve problems. However, applying the same understanding of the elections to countries that are not democratized is only deceiving oneself. Turkey has a history of multiparty political life even as a result of developments in the outside world. Why is the bipartisan political life so important then? One must be aware that support for the Kurdish genocide policy is maintained.

There is no doubt that constitutions and laws are formal texts. But they are the first documents to be looked at when we talk of democratization of a country.

It is obvious that the struggle for democratization will be hard, especially when the Kurdish question is concerned. The last 40 years of struggle have proved this time and time again.

The point here is that while we are not saying that the June 24 elections are not important, at the same time we want to say that they shouldn’t be overestimated.

Undoubtedly, this struggle for a democratic revolution has contributed to the democratization in Turkey, it has increased the possibilities of struggle. But we cannot see Turkey as a democratic country. 

So this election should be seen as one of the democratic struggle platforms emerged by the struggle for democracy.

This AKP-MHP fascist regime is resorting to such an election in order to provide legitimacy to itself. It is so weak that it has become unable to carry out domestic and foreign policies. In this respect, it wants to build legitimacy with this election by exploiting all possibilities. It has to do this.

Democratic forces, therefore, should transform this election into a democracy struggle process and platform.

This election should work as a boomerang for the fascist alliance.

Since there is no democratization mentality and politics anyway, the option of severe warfare against the Kurdish people and the forces of democracy has been chosen.

This has been repeated many times by the leader Apo in 2013 and 2014. Leader Apo imposed the option of democratization, but the current political parties and the state did not have such a mentality, so the war option was preferred instead.

The forces of democracy should consider this election as a struggle. When you look at the election in this way, it gains meaning and becomes a ground and development in the direction of democratization. Sending deputies in the parliament is not a success per se. Of course, parliaments are the institutions in which the struggle of the people is reflected. But political representation within the parliament will mean a step towards democratisation only if completed by organized society.

In the world, all democracies have risen from tension. Democracy has always evolved through a multifaceted struggle between an organized democratic society and the state. So it developed out of tension. This tension continues until a full democracy is established and the people get real power. While this tension continues in the form of armed conflicts in fascist, despotic and oligarchic countries, in countries with a certain democratization, opposition arises giving way to different forms of tension.

The HDP and other democratic forces will play an important role in determining the future of Turkey. The democratization project is the biggest project. This is an economic, social and political, cultural and diplomatic project as well as a political, social, economic, cultural, legal one.

There is a need for an alliance. This is the alliance of Kurds and all democracy forces. Undoubtedly, Kurdish and democratic forces formed a strategic alliance within the HDP. However, a few Kurdish and some democratic forces are not in the HDP.

We cannot allow the AKP-MHP fascist alliance to win again on June 24. Which is why it is important for the HDP to overcome the threshold. If this wouldn’t happen, then all democratic forces will lose. 

HDP candidate should go to the second round in the Presidential elections. Peoples of Turkey must make the most out of this democratic chance and get rid of the AKP-MHP fascist alliance.”