Swiss Greens Deputy Chair and National Parliament Deputy Nicolas Walder answered questions by Serkan Demirel from Medya News TV about the Presidential and General Elections to be held on May 14 in Turkey.

As you know, presidential and parliamentary elections will be held in Turkey on May 14. Both the opposition in Turkey and many European politicians emphasize the historical significance of these elections. How do you evaluate the upcoming elections?

Of course, these elections, like all other elections, are extremely important. However, considering a President who monopolized power after 11 years in prime ministry and 9 years in the presidency, these elections have historical significance.

Turkish democracy is turning into autocracy in the hands of a strongman. And this is indeed a danger to the country. For me, if Erdoğan continues to hold power for 5 or more years, this will pose a very serious danger to Turkish democracy.

'Erdoğan increases pressure against his rivals'

How would you explain the importance of these elections, especially when we consider the human rights violations that have taken place during Erdoğan’s rule?

These elections are also important in terms of the human rights violations against all political opponents, especially in the Kurdish regions. Erdoğan resorts to a crackdown on people and political parties that he thinks pose a danger to him. He also replaced some people in the administration and military by his supporters. Erdoğan’s rule is posing a serious danger in terms of human rights and freedoms.

Therefore, it is necessary to revive political pluralism and freedom in the political sphere.

'Kurdish movement is only hope to change regime'

As someone who closely follows the Kurdish question, how important do you think these elections are for the Kurds and the solution to the Kurdish question?

The position of a possible government which will be formed under the leadership of Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, concerning the Kurdish question is extremely uncertain. Therefore, we do not know what kind of policies concerning the Kurds will be introduced.

In any case, we can predict that a more open political atmosphere will prevail to allow for more discussion and a more tolerant approach than Erdoğan’s rule.

As a matter of fact, there will be things to be done after the elections. If the opposition wins, I think that the Kurdish question should be discussed and, above all, the autonomy rights and freedoms of the different minorities in Turkey should be promoted.

I believe that this is very important. Maybe all of this can be done after the elections. It is also very important that the HDP and the Kurdish movement stated that they would not nominate a presidential candidate to support the opposition coalition in these elections. The only hope for changing the current regime is this attitude of the Kurdish movement.

'Kurdish votes will be decisive'

Turkey's 3rd largest party, the HDP, will enter these elections under the Green Left Party since it is facing a closure case. It is claimed that the Green Left Party will play a key role in these elections. How do you evaluate the importance of the Green Left Party?

As the 3rd largest party in Turkey that receives over 10 percent votes, the role of the HDP (Green Left Party) is very important in these elections. The opposition coalition cannot win the elections if it does not receive the 10 percent from the Green Left Party. We must regard the HDP as a chance to change the regime. In this sense, the votes of Kurdish voters will be extremely important and decisive.

Furthermore, I think that the HDP's stance in these elections is also a message that the Kurds are ready to work with their partners not only on the Kurdish question, but also on human rights and freedoms in Turkey.

I consider HDP's decision to participate in the elections under the Green Left Party as an effort to maintain itself in the political sphere in Turkey, despite Erdoğan's attempts to ban the party. This is a sign of the political maturity of this party.

'Crackdown on HDP and Kurds shows weakness of government'

How do you evaluate the Erdoğan regime that keeps criminalizing the HDP and the Kurds?

There are several reasons why they do so. Two of them can be seen in conservative and populist movements all over the world. Targeting a minority is clearly a policy of creating internal or external enemies and uniting the majority of the people against these imagined enemies. This is an easy policy to maintain your power and hide your weak policies when you don't have much to offer to the public.

Moreover, there is a situation where some sections of the population resort to violence for certain reasons. This causes the majority to unite against the people who resort to violence.

But I think that targeting the HDP is the demonization of a minority by those who do not want to lose power. It is claimed that if political rights are granted to the HDP, the Kurds will want independence, the country will be divided, and Turkey's power will come to an end. There are many myths around these ideas.

We see the same arguments in other countries, for example, in China. There is a minority that is discriminated against, although it does not pose any danger to the unity of the country. The same arguments used in Turkey are used against this minority. The Chinese government, which is afraid of losing its power, is taking advantage of the demonization of a minority. This is unacceptable.

I hope that the next government in Turkey will cooperate with the Kurds and the political parties that represent them to create a more inclusive society.

‘HDP should be supported by the international community’

Why should we support the HDP, which will enter the elections under the name of the Green Left Party?

First, I am a green and left-wing politician, so I have political reasons to support this party. I think that international support for this party is extremely important. Because, if you advise a minority or the Kurds to use political means rather than the means of violence, you cannot prevent their access to democracy. If you ban a political party, you prevent it from making its democratic voice heard. Therefore, if you advocate peace and democracy like me, I think that you should support the right of all parties and all people to make their voices heard through democratic means.

I believe that it is an extremely dangerous move to ban political parties and their activities, because if this is done, the people will have no choice but to revolt, using violence when necessary.

Allowing people to express themselves and political parties to do their job is indeed extremely important to any decent democracy. Considering all of these, I strongly support the HDP and oppose Erdoğan's desire to restrict democratic freedoms by banning a political party.

‘Turkey will be a dictatorship if Erdoğan is re-elected’

Recently, many politicians have described Erdoğan's regime as a dictatorship. How do you evaluate it?

I can describe the current system in Turkey not as a dictatorship, but as an autocracy in which all power is amassed in the hands of a single person. In 2017, the presidential system was introduced. With this system change, Erdoğan limited the multi-party system and political pluralism in a sense.

I think that his stay in power for a few more years will turn this man who has been ruling Turkey for 20 years into a dictator. We saw it happen in Russia. We can observe an alarming tendency towards dictatorship in Turkey as well.

The fact that there are still elections in contemporary Turkey is proof that there is no dictatorship in its true sense. However, these elections might indeed be the last free elections in Turkey. Hence, it's very important to replace the current regime with  diversity and pluralism.

Do you think Erdoğan poses a threat to Europe as well?

Democracy is a system that offers much more stability and sustainability in relationships. It is also true that seeing a dictator confronting a democratic Europe is a risk. We see this happening in Russia. In this sense, a dictator in Turkey means that Europe is facing a risk that cannot be ignored.

A Turkey ruled by such a strongman is not only a danger to the Turks and, of course, the Kurds, but also to the whole of Europe and the world, including the Middle East. We are talking about Europe, but the stability of the Middle East will at the same time be directly affected by the decisions of a man whose sole purpose is to preserve his political survival and power. And all of these are really a big risk.

When it comes to dictatorship, it is no longer the general interest that matters, but the interest and power of a single man. And this is truly unacceptable.

'Governments may tend to hold on to power illegally'

Do you think these elections will take place in a democratic and free environment?

I hope that the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) will send hundreds of observers. I hope that these elections will take place in a peaceful, democratic and free environment. I think that one should be very careful because the polls and the current troubles show that there will be different trends in these elections.

There will always be a tendency for those in power to hold power illegally. Therefore, everyone, especially the opposition, should be careful and I hope that the OSCE will do its job properly.