Everything is ready for HDP (People's Democratic Party) congress which will open in Ankara today.

BDP Mersin deputy Ertuğrul Kürkçü is one of the four BDP deputies (the other three are Istanbul deputies Sebahat Tuncel, Sırrı Süreyya Önder and Levent Tüzel) who formally resigned from the BDP to join the newly formed Halk Demokratik Partisi.

ANF spoke with Kürkçü about the need, aims and hopes of the new political formation which will be running at the next local elections scheduled for 31 March 2014.

Why you felt a new party was needed ?

It is important to stress that we are not passing from the HDK (Democratic People's Congress) to the HDP. Indeed the former will remain live and kicking as a social struggle platform, while the latter, which has been designed to bring the achievements of the HDK to the political arena, will be serving as a mechanism addressing local administrations and parliamentary elections.

You and three other BDP deputies resigned. Why was that necessary ?

We just had to leave our positions in the BDP because of the present law on political parties which doesn't allow a deputy to be a member of two different parties at the same time. We needed to do this in order to enable HDP's representation in the parliament and to provide a political visibility for the party. More deputies of the BDP could join the HDP but they need to be present in the region for their work in the electoral campaign. They will re-arrange their relations with the HDP after the elections.

In few words, by headlines, the main program issues of the party ?

The party will primarily focus on two basic issues; social rights and democratic rights. The party will continue the struggle for a new constitution which is a must now considering the fact that the government of the Turkish Republic can no longer continue in its current form, as it is based on the elimination of any citizenship [other than Turkish], centralized administration and the concept of "Turkishness".

As to the issue of democratic rights, we think a new constitution and law on local administrations, would change and eliminate the current obstacles. In other words this means the realisation of a democratic republic and autonomous administrations in the country.

We will also be unerline the need to ensure that local administrations gain autonomy from the center and become local and regional representation mechanisms. We will fight in particular for the autonomy and political status of local administrations in Kurdistan.

The matter of social rights is related with the need to eliminate the repression faced by labor forces in the society, to strengthen labor's position against capital, to eliminate neo-liberal policies and to re-arrange regional life, which is currently being led in line with the principles of Sunni Islam alone, in a way to liberate all oppressed sections and belief groups in the society.