Supporters of KRG President Barzani aim to form new Kurdish political party in Turkey

ANKARA

Supporters of Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) President Massoud Barzani have reportedly concluded preliminary efforts to establish a new political party in Turkey. 

The Kurdistan Democrat Party (KDP), which will be found with the participation of three groups engaged in politics in support of Barzani, aims to present an alternative to the Kurdish issue-focused Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), daily Habertürk reported on June 21. 

One of the leaders of the groups, Sertaç Bucak, said the party bylaw had been completed and an application will be filed to the Interior Ministry after Eid al-Fitr.

The Participatory Democracy Party (KADEP), Turkey’s Kurdistan Democrat Party (T-KDP) and the KDP have merged together to found this alternative party, with representatives of the three parties holding a dozen separate meetings in northern Iraq to this end. 

Bucak, a member of the KDP, former KADEP head Mehmet Emin Kardaş, and other representatives worked on the party bylaw for nine months and held a press conference in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır. 

During the press conference, the KDP members criticized the HDP for the statements of its lawmakers and the “politics of trenches,” referring to the trenches dug in urban areas by young militants against the Turkish security forces in summer 2015. 

They said they would pursue policies answering those demanding an alternative Kurdish-issue focused party, adding that they aimed to “fill the gap” rather than compete with or criticize the HDP. 

Members of the KDP are now reportedly planning to hold a meeting in Diyarbakır after the foundation work is completed.