Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Co-President Selahattin Demirtaş said “The government must immediately abandon its insane policies that are dragging the country into a disaster”, drawing attention to the society's desire for peace and the AKP's insensitivity towards the demands for peace.

HDP Co-President answered reporters' questions before his party’s Executive Council meeting in Ankara. Demirtaş started his words by offering condolences to the families of those who died in the flood in Artvin yesterday.

Regarding a question on who will be the ministers in the election government from the HDP, Demirtaş recalled that the previous Executive Council meeting had clarified party’s position on the issue and decided to take part in the election government in order to ensure the representation of over 6 million electors who voted for the HDP. He stressed that election government is not a coalition government based on consensus with the AKP, but rather a constitutionally required temporary executive government that will carry out the process before and after the election until a new government is formed.

HDP Co-President stressed that his party decided to join the temporary election government also to prevent one party from utilizing the opportunities of holding the power, and in order for the elections to be held in a secure and healthy environment. Demirtaş said all the deputies of the party are well capable of serving as a minister and therefore the discussion is not relevant to the names and which ministries will be assigned to HDP deputies. “But I call upon Davutoğlu; Half of Turkey’s population and electors is made up of women. So, half of the government to be formed must be made up of women as well. The election government should take a concrete step with regards to the representation of women at least, and therefore half of the ministers should be comprised of women”.

AKP WANTS TO COME TO POWER BY MEANS OF WAR

Demirtaş remarked that the AKP and the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan closed their ears to the calls for peace, the major demand of Turkey’s society, as is also revealed by the cries at funeral ceremonies.

“If the death of our children is a common pain for all of us, then we should raise a more stronger voice against the death of our beloved ones for the power and interests of some. No one would side with war at a point where the problem could be solved through dialogue and negotiation”, said HDP Co-President.

Demirtaş said they should also manifest that no one had the right to drag the country into a disaster for the sake of leaving the HDP under the election threshold and coming to the power once again.

HDP leader urged the government to immediately abandon these insane policies that dragged the country into a disaster, stressing that it was, on top of that, an unauthorized government that brought the country to the edge of war both inside and outside its borders.

"They will certainly give an account for all these during and after the elections, but the silence of arms is an urgent expectation of the society. The government cannot close its ears to these calls. The society does not want conflict and war. No one wants deaths and tears anymore”, he underlined.

Demirtaş pointed out that their concern was to ensure an immediate end of the ongoing conflict and deaths without delaying peace any longer, describing this as the most basic right and expectation of theirs.

SNAP ELECTION

Regarding a question about the list of candidates for the snap election, Demirtaş said there is no need to present a new list of candidate to the society while the current deputies were elected only several months ago and the list was already approved by the society. Demirtaş said they would more or less have the same list and recalled that HDP was a new party and its deputies were newly elected ones.

ELECTION GOVERNMENT

Demirtaş further touched upon the discussion on the names for the ministries for the election government, stressing that the HDP will govern the country much better than the governments of war, robbery, plunder and massacre.

“Even if the HDP remains the single party forming the election government, yet we would never pursue policies bestowing a privilege on the party and its voters. We are taking part in this government for a fair ruling.

“We attribute importance to representation in the Cabinet of Ministers. Six million people have the right to be represented in three ministries. And we will undertake this representation for the right of our voters. I have voiced my proposal on this; it would be very good if half of the ministers was elected from among women. I do not refer to HDP deputies alone in this regard."

Demirtaş once again stressed that the 80 deputies of the HDP all shared the same views about honesty and justice and therefore they would not discuss the names on this issue.

PALACE COUP IN FORCE

Regarding the discussions on HDP's exclusion from a snap election government, Demirtaş said “There is a coup by the Palace in effect and no one will be surprised if they carry it forward to the point of violating the constitution by forming an election government without HDP. They already violate the constitution on a daily basis, even on an hourly basis, they are used to committing constitutional crimes. So, they may easily do it once again, and this will never surprise us, but the price for that would be too heavy”.