HDP Co-president Demirtaş said on a visit to his parents that interest in the HDP was rising, while support for the AKP was falling.

Demirtaş said:  "The HDP has for a long while now with its politics and discourse created a serious hope and excitement. As the election campaign proceeds this will become evident."

HDP Co-president Selahattin Demirtaş was visiting his parents, who live in the Kayapınar district of Amed province.

'We start work tomorrow'

Demirtaş said they would begin their election campaign tomorrow in Ankara, where candidates would be introduced. "Our goal is to go to all 81 provinces and to many districts. Time is limited and Turkey is a large country, with numerous electoral regions," he added.

On being asked by reporters how the party's list of candidates had been received in the west of Turkey, Demirtaş said: "HDP is a party of the whole country. We have candidates in Edirne and in Trabzon as well as in Hakkari, Van and Diyarbakır. Hence our candidates have been received enthusiastically there.  The HDP has for a long while now with its politics and discourse created a serious hope and excitement. As the election campaign proceeds this will become evident.  People who formerly voted for other parties tell us they will vote for the HDP."

'The AKP is on the slide, we are on the verge of exceeding the threshold' 

Demirtaş replied to a question regarding the ten per cent threshold, saying that the AKP was suffering a serious drop in support, while the HDP was on the rise. He added that he believed that once the party's policies and mission were explained the threshold would not be a problem.

Regarding the choice of candidates, Demirtaş said: "We had thousands of applicants and we had to choose 550 candidates. We have lots of good candidates. I thank all those who applied."

'Tens of thousands of people are in exile' 

Demirtaş mentioned his brother Nurettin Demirtaş, who is a former co-president of the DTP. "He was sentenced to 15 years in prison unjustly. And there were other cases against him. We didn't want him to spend his whole life in prison. He now lives in Hewler in South Kurdistan. Tens of thousands of people are in the same situation, living in exile, far from home, on account of their opinions. If we achieve a good result on 7 June we will take an initiative to resolve this issue," he added.