BDP lawmakers join sister-party HDP

ANKARA

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A majority of the 21-seated Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) lawmakers have joined the sister party, Peoples’ Democracy Party (HDP).

The move was described by the BDP co-leader Selahattin Demirtaş as a new phase in “the quest for democratic unity in Turkey.”

“We have to be the common struggle and common voice of all oppressed identities. This is indispensable for us,” Demirtaş said on April 28 at a ceremony on April 28 for this occasion.

According to Demirtaş, the electorate is supporting the BDP with its vote, not because he or she is Kurdish, but rather the time has come for forming a strong alternative to political parties that have been nourished by nationalism and neo-nationalism.

Having held its first extraordinary congress in late September, the HDP, in fact, was formed as an umbrella party, encircling the BDP and some leftist parties after the suggestion made from the jailed leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), Abdullah Öcalan.

“This is not the BDP’s participation into the HDP and it is not a self-annulment of the BDP in order to transit to the HDP. The HDP was our joint umbrella party and as the parliamentary group, we will be joining the HDP as of today,” Demirtaş said, noting the BDP would continue political activity in different formats.

Except Demirtaş and the BDP’s Muş deputy, Sırrı Sakık, all other lawmakers of the BDP have joined the already eight-seated HDP.