تمزق حزب الشعوب الديمقراطي بين السياسة و العنف

Abstract EN

Although the Kurdish political movement has been participating in elections since 1991, never until June 2015 were they able to receive more than seven percent of the vote.

On June 7, the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) nearly doubled its share of the vote.

Although the election results indicated that the Kurdish voters wanted politicians to play a more prominent role within the movement, the PKK ended the two-year ceasefire to dig trenches, set up barricades and target the security forces in residential areas.

In recent months, PKK militants have been trying to enforce de facto autonomous zones across the Southeast – which alienated part of the HDP base and reduced the party’s support to ten percent in November.

The sharp decline in the HDP’s popularity suggests that the electorate would like to empower civilian leaders at the expense of violent groups.