Main opposition leader: Coalition possible with MHP, HDP

Okan Konuralp ANKARA

AA Photo

Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has said his party could form a coalition with the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) after the June 7 elections, on the condition that they embrace an independent media and judiciary.

“We can make a coalition with a party if we agree on certain values and principles. The party we form a coalition with should support the independence of institutions that should remain independent, [as well as] the independence of the media and the judiciary,” Kılıçdaroğlu told EU countries’ ambassadors on April 16 during a meeting at Ankara’s Latvia Embassy.

“The HDP and the MHP could be coalition alternatives based on our criteria [of parties we could make a coalition with],” Kılıçdaroğlu said.

The CHP leader also said he believed the HDP would be in the parliament after the June 7 parliamentary elections, responding to a question about the HDP’s possibility of passing the 10 percent threshold. “We want the HDP to be in parliament; it should be there. We cannot think the opposite about any party that believes in parliamentarian democracy,” he said.

CHP deputy leader Murat Özçelik, CHP Ankara Deputy Aylin Nazlıaka and CHP Eskişehir candidate Utku Çakırözer were also present during Kılıçdaroğlu’s lunch with the ambassadors. He also said the CHP’s main goal was to be in a government without a coalition.

He also said Turkey’s EU accession process would be revived if the CHP forms the next government.