Demirtas lists criteria for a possible joint candidate against Erdogan

Jailed Kurdish leader Selahattin Demirtas said he would not be the joint candidate of the opposition next year’s presidential elections in Turkey due to “obvious reasons” in a letter he sent to a Turkish TV channel in which he listed his criteria for a possible candidate. 

“The candidate must be well-seasoned and democratic enough to embrace all the varieties of a polarized society [like Turkey]. He should be able to simply tell the people what kind of staff he will employ and with which concrete projects he will solve the problems. He should have the foresight to address society all the time instead of arguing with his rivals. His nerves should also be strong,” Demirtas said. 

Demirtas continued: “the joint candidate should put emphasis on collective work, shared wisdom, and have the experience to successfully manage the transition process. He should be able to learn lessons from the mistakes of the last century and maintain a good balance between confrontation and reckoning.”

Demirtas said the candidate should be sensitive and conscious on issues such as women's equality, workers, environmental rights, and liberal secularism; and should offer a democratic solution perspective on collective rights such as identity, belief and language rights.

Demirtas earlier signaled support for main opposition leader Kemal 

Kilicdaroglu’s candidacy as “he seems to have significant support from different social segments, which is not an easy task in a polarized country like Turkey.”

A recent poll suggested that the CHP (People’s Republican Party) leader Kilicdaroglu also got  the backing of 45% of the electorate in 16 Kurdish cities if he ran against President Erdogan, who would get 20% from the Kurdish voters according to the poll.