HDP asking for the blessing of military and police voters

How many are they and what motives did they vote with? Was it because they had demands and expectations from the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) or just because of their opposition to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan?  

The only data available is from certain voting stations located where the lodgings for military and police families are. There are no further breakdowns available. 

But if HDP co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş feels he owes them also, so much the better. 

Is there any point in trying to falsify it by saying “No, none of the members of the families of the military or the police would vote for you; even if they do, it is not because of their love for you; but either they are parallel or because of their hatred for Erdoğan. Don’t assume they are your votes.”

However you assume and whichever way you count, it is a good thing that the HDP wants to connect with military and police families, to make a political and moral commitment for them, to feel responsible, to have their blessing. Actually it is a very good thing…

I personally would not question this any further… As long as a political party, which has obtained the preference of 13 percent of the total votes that make up the national will, does not demonize the military and the police and does not declare terror as innocent…  

In his speech in Diyarbakır earlier this week, Demirtaş mentioned the families of martyrs: “Police and military staff families also voted for us in the west; we know that. Now, their sons are losing their lives. We owe all of them; we are obligated to bring peace; to stop the war…”

There is no point in questioning the accuracy of this. I hope it is right. I hope the HDP will play the role it has not played until today – to replace armed struggle with the unarmed struggle to stop the clashes…    

I hope these words do not echo on the rugged rocks of the Kandil mountain and come back as empty election pledges after Nov. 1… I hope this time the HDP does its share as the living proof of the fact that the weapons in the hands of the PKK have lost their meaning.  

I hope he does not forget that the votes he received from the east or the west are a preference for unarmed struggle against armed struggle; he keeps it in his mind that these votes were given to him to support civilian politics.

I hope the HDP dares to take risks to fulfill its voters’ will by taking this opportunity to rid itself of the tutelage of Kandil, liberate itself from the armed organization and at least enjoy political autonomy just like the PKK’s “local components that act autonomously.”  

I hope the HDP fully gains its self-administration rights against the armed patronage of those in the mountains. And that the date Nov. 1 becomes the beginning of an era when the HDP is run only from HDP headquarters.

When will the expectations from the HDP go beyond wishes and hopes?   

It will be when Demirtaş stops saying, “Generally, these are special squads that are sent from outside the city. They are small operation teams. It is not known who they report to. They arrive, execute and leave. They photograph and film it and post it.” 

When he stops blending party campaign with organization propaganda; when he is able to say: “If they drag a body and film it and post it themselves, this is not madness; it’s a cold-blooded planned execution. I do not believe in this irregularity, this banditry that puts me against the police and military.” 

It will be when he rejects benefiting from mechanisms that are designed to agitate the streets and blow away commonsense… 

To conclude, I hope that these days are not too far away…