Demirtas: “‘Envelope revolution’ will bring a glimmer of hope”

Imprisoned Kurdish leader Selahattin Demirtas said he believed the upcoming elections could bring about "revolutionary change" in Turkey and conceptualized that change as an "envelope revolution," referring to the envelope in which voters put their ballots before placing them in the ballot box.

In an article posted in Gazete Duvar, Demirtas said that what is extraordinary about the ruling bloc in Turkey, composed of the AKP (Justice and Development Party) and the MHP (Nationalist Movement Party), is not their oppressive rule, as seen in many other countries around the world, but their success in hiding it behind a fraudulent legitimacy.

"The Erdogan regime has built a repressive regime with such skill that anyone who opposed it found himself positioned as a putschist and a traitor. In a gradual buildup of this regime, the judiciary, media, capital, communities, sects, bureaucracy, and universities were masterfully served and a one-man regime was built that seemed impossible to overthrow. The regime was so self-confident that it did not hesitate to set 50% +1 as a condition for the election. Somehow the system would work flawlessly, the will of society would be broken step by step, the masses would be captured by fear, threat, blackmail and fraud, and the Erdogan regime would continue through fraudulent elections until 2071 and beyond," Demirtas said, but in all details they made "a tiny miscalculation: the revolutionary potential in the heart of people"

Demirtas said what he meant by the "envelope revolution" was to create a glimmer of hope even when everything seemed hopeless, starting with election day.

There is much to do, but first we will put this envelope in the ballot box. After that it's easy, after that it's joyful, after that it's hopeful."

He urged voters not to fear that one-man rule could be overthrown with just one envelope and non-recognition of the election result.

He concluded:

"If someone does not recognize the election result and tries to stage a coup, your efforts, your motivation and your hopes will move you so much until that day that no one can stop you from destroying the palace of the coup plotters."