Surpassing the electoral threshold by the Peoples' Democratic Party in the Turkish general election of June 2015: victory or loss for Kurds?

This article examines the contradictory outcomes of the surpassing of the 10 % electoral threshold by the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) in the Turkish general election of June 2015. The importance of this research is due to the significance of the Kurdish issue in the domestic policy and foreign relations of the Republic of Turkey. For many years the Kurdish minority in Turkey struggled for being represented in Parliament and other political institutions. The 10 % electoral threshold in Turkey is one of the highest in the world and was admittedly adopted to prevent national minorities from gaining seats in the Grand National Assembly. In 2015, relying on the growing support, pro-Kurdish organizations united under umbrella of HDP as a national party and surpassed the threshold with a comfortable margin. HDP gained 80 seats in the Grand National Assembly and became an influential opposition force. This success was widely celebrated in the Kurdish districts. The aim of this article is to evaluate the long-term outcomes of the HDP's electoral success. The presence of HDP in Parliament gave an opportunity for Turkish officials to reject allegations of minorities' rights abuse. Also it interfered with President R. Erdogan's intention to amend the Constitution to create a presidential rather than a parliamentarian system in Turkey. After failed efforts to form a parliamentary coalition, President R. Erdogan called for new elections. The 25th Parliament of Turkey was the shortest in the Grand National Assembly's history, lasting for just five months. This article follows the trajectory of the events that caused the breakdown of the "solution process" between Turkey and Kurdish insurgents. Renewed clashes between the militant wing of the Kurdistan Workers' Party and the Turkish army led to the HDP marginalization, when it came under scrutiny and its co-chair S. Demirta§ also came under investigation. This article reveals that one of the real aims of the anti-Kurdish hostility was to consolidate the nationalist votes for the November snap elections. In the Turkish general election of November 2015, the governing Justice and Development Party (AKP), backed by President R. Erdogan, won the majority sufficient to form a single-party government. HDP barely surpassed the 10 % threshold with 10.76 % of the vote, and lost 21 seats in the Grand National Assembly. On the basis of the election results it can be concluded that the goal of the Turkish nationalist-oriented elites to decrease the power and influence of opposition was achieved.

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