Wahlausgang in Istanbul hängt von Kurden ab

Bei den anstehenden Kommunalwahlen in Istanbul zeichnet sich erneut ein Kopf-an-Kopf Rennen zwischen AKP und CHP ab. Wer gewinnt, werden wohl einmal mehr kurdische Wählerinnen und Wähler entscheiden.

Nach dem Flop des Oppositionsbündnisses bei den letzten Präsidentschafts- und Parlamentswahlen im vergangenen Sommer richten sich die Augen nun auf die Kommunalwahlen und da vor allem auf Istanbul. Diesmal hat die Nachfolgepartei der HDP, DEM einen eigenen Kandidaten aufgestellt, der allerdings kaum Chancen haben wird. Deshalb ist die große Frage, ob Sonntag dann doch viele Kurdinnen und Kurden erneut bei der CHP und Ekrem Imamoglu ihr Kreuzchen machen werden:

In Istanbul, polls show Imamoglu of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) and his AKP challenger are neck-and-neck, with the DEM candidate trailing. This has left Kurdish party supporters with a dilemma; should they vote with their heart or their head?

“They are confused and undecided,” according to Yuksel Genc at pollster SAMER, who said 40% of DEM supporters had indicated they would vote for Imamoglu. “They are considering voting for their party candidate but don’t want the AK Party to win.”

Erdogan’s government has cracked down on Kurdish parties since the 2015 collapse of a peace process to end a decades-old insurgency by the outlawed Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK).

DEM, parliament’s third largest party with around 10% of seats, is the successor of the HDP which faces potential closure in a trial over alleged militant ties that it denies.

It has been ravaged by thousands of arrests and the ousting of its mayors after previous elections, feeding voters’ desire to hit the AKP nationwide while retaining DEM’s dominance in the mainly Kurdish southeast and its largest city, Diyarbakir.

“I think that in an environment like Diyarbakir, it is necessary to vote for DEM, but in Istanbul I would vote Ekrem Imamoglu,” said retiree Mehmet Fatih Sutcu at Diyarbakir celebrations for the Kurdish spring festival.

Roj Girasun, director of Rawest Research, said DEM and the main opposition CHP had reached a deal over some areas of Istanbul, making it easier for DEM voters to support Imamoglu and with around half of them inclined to do so.