JINHA

ANKARA – HDP general co-chair Figen Yüksekdağ, speaking at a meeting in Ankara, said the party was open to all democratic propositions for forming a coalition government in the wake of Turkey's election, in which no single party gained enough seats to rule the country by itself.

"The HDP will not be a party that starts crises, but one that solves them," said Figen, responding to the framing of the election in the pro-AKP and mainstream press that presents the HDP's elections success as "destabilizing" Turkey. The more than 60% of Turkish citizens who voted for non-AKP parties in Turkey's June 7th election, she said, were saying "no to authoritarian politics, yes to pluralistic democracy."

The general co-chair answered journalists' questions at a press conference at the Ankara World Trade Center.Debates about whether and how a coalition can be formed in Turkey's Parliament are ongoing. The HDP has not received any formal propositions to form a coalition, said Figen, but "our doors are open to all democratic requests." The party has formed a committee to support the formation of a government.

Figen called the June 7 election results not just a vote for pluralism, but for the peace and resolution process. The HDP's delegation, she said, has still not received a reply to their request four days ago to meet with jailed PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan.She called for an immediate end to the obstacles to meetings with the leader.

"The June 7 election was ultimately a vote for peace and resolution," said Figen. "So the fact that the HDP got 13.1% of the vote and entered the Parliament with such a strong level of representation demonstrates how much Turkey and its peoples want to see the peace and resolution process be continued. A break in the peace process at the end of this election is an infringement of the will of the electorate."

Figen also commented on the YPG/YPJ's liberation of Girê Spî (Tel Abyad)—a city lying on Turkey's border with Syria that has been a key strategic point for Daesh for two years. She noted that only the YPG and YPJ have taken on the responsibility of pushing Daesh out of the region.

"Unfortunately, the duty to stop this plague on the Turkish government, Turkish politics and all the people of the region has fallen to the YPG and YPJ. This is a historic responsibility," she said.

"Those who said 'Kobanê has fallen and will fall,' those who supported them, those who didn't raise their voices against savagery had their defeat on June 7," she said, referring to Erdoğan's notorious prediction that the city of Kobanê was falling in the face of Daesh attacks. "Tel Abyad was the fortress of ISIS—the ones they said would not fall. And [Tel Abyad] has, happily enough, fallen.

"We said 'great humanity' and we won on June 7. Thankfully, great humanity has won in Rojava and Tel Abyad. This means the beginning of the best path for the entire region and for the peoples of Turkey," said Figen.

(gc/cm)