JINHA

NEWS CENTER – With the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) aiming to challenge the reign of the sexist AKP in Turkey's June election, HDP women have been opening election headquarters across the country.

Yesterday, women in the Istanbul neighborhood of Kadıköy, on the Asian side of the city, celebrated the opening of the party's Women's Election Office, with their celebration spilling over into the streets with folk dancing. Women hung a large purple sign reading "Women into Parliament" on the façade of the building.

In Turkey's June election, the HDP is aiming to overcome Turkey's high 10% electoral threshold for a party to enter Parliament, a provision instituted with the 1980 fascist coup in the country that has long sidelined opposition politics in the country.

"Women are going to struggle all together to bring down that threshold and the sexist, anti-woman politics of the AKP," said HDP candidate Filiz Kerestecioğlu, speaking at the ceremony. Filiz, known for her work as a lawyer defending cases related to women's rights, is among the founders of the Purple Roof Foundation of independent women's shelters. She is among the many heavyweights of Turkey's feminist movement putting their energy into the HDP's campaign, which is running on a slate of 48% woman candidates.

In recent days, the HDP has been opening elections campaign coordination headquarters across the country. Thousands attended an election headquarters opening in the southern city of Antep today.

Yesterday, in the town of Erciş in Van province, HDP General Co-Chair Figen Yüksekdağ cut the red ribbon on the first election headquarters in Van province. Figen, a longtime socialist womenmovement activist and founder of party Socialist Party of the Oppressedwho joined the HDP and rose to the top of the party's leadership, is running for Parliament from the Kurdish movement center of Van in this election.

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