HDP goes ahead with banned elections rally
ISTANBUL (DİHA) - The Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) has announced that they will go ahead with their Istanbul rally planned in for May 30 in the neighborhood of Kazlıçeşme, which the local election board had forbidden.
The party's general co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş will be speaking at Kazlıçeşme Square in what the HDP has called the "finale of the Istanbul election campaign," according to HDP officials. The local Zeytinburnu District Election Board had announced on Tuesday that the meeting was not allowed. Reactions to the ban were swift, as Istanbul is seen as a major battleground in Turkey's June 7 election.
The HDP announced in a press conference yesterday that they plan to go ahead with the meeting. Cesim Soylu, Istanbul provincial co-chair, stressed that the cancellation had not been final. He clarified that "there are no rally bans in elections processes." The HDP has met with the governor and police about the rally.
"We've worked hard throughout the elections process," said Ayşe Erdem, Istanbul's other provincial co-chair. She referenced Turkey's extremely high 10% election threshold, which keeps many parties out of parliament. "On May 30, in Kazlıçeşme, let's show Turkey that we will overcome the elections threshold."
An AKP celebration of the conquest of Istanbul, an event associated with religious Turkish nationalism, has been scheduled for the same time in a nearby neighborhood.
(cm/nt)
