With less than a month to go before the general elections of 7 June the HDP has now been promised support by the Roma community in Mersin. Having already gained the support of Kurds, Christians, Arabs, Turks and Alevis in Mersin, the Roma community say they see the HDP as a ‘lifebelt’ after 90 years of being ostracised.

Around 30 thousand Roma live in Mersin, and they say their houses were taken from them by a previous CHP municipal administration, before their neighbourhood was destroyed as part of the AKP government’s ‘Urban Renewal Project’. Most recently, they have been targeted by the MHP-run Metropolitan Municipality that has banned the Roma collecting rubbish, work the Roma started to do after they were prevented from carrying on their traditional work as musicians. The Roma said that the HDP-run Akdeniz municipality had for the first time organised a Hıdırellez festival this year, adding that the HDP understood oppressed people and that they would therefore vote for the party at the 7 June elections. Roma spoke to ANF about their reasons for supporting the HDP.

The Roma Association deputy chair Kadir Dağ said that the system had looked down on them since Ottoman times, calling them ‘Çingene’ [gypsy], and that they had been seen as the lowest of the low. “They demolished our hundreds of years old neighbourhood in the middle of Mersin in the name of urban renewal. They took our houses just to prevent us organising and in order to assimilate us. So the HDP is like a lifebelt for us. We believe they will look out for us as they raise their voices for the oppressed and ostracised. I worked in the CHP for a long time, but they let us down. Hopefully, on 7 June we will celebrate the victory of the HDP,” he added.

İsmail Nurbel: “We no longer want to be seen as entertainers. We have lived here for a long time, we also have a right to education and to have a profession. People do not tolerate our way of life. We used to be thrown into prison, but now they stop us working. The MHP municipal officers don’t let us collect refuse. We will support the HDP at the elections as they stand up for oppressed people.”

Güven Çetik: “They have built skyscrapers around our small neighbourhood. We cannot get any pleasure from life without a horse, a dog or a rooster. These politicians are always trying to con us with a bag of pasta, rice or sugar. But now when they ask us which party we support, we say: ‘We’re with the HDP’.”