Demirtas: Nation alliance has a broken compass

An election program presented by Turkey's six opposition parties aims for good and right deeds but does not promise a democratic state, detained Kurdish leader Selahattin Demirtas said on Wednesday while answering written questions to Turkish journalist Cuneyt Ozdemir on his youtube channel.

A coalition of six Turkish opposition parties seeking an end to President Tayyip Erdogan's two-decade rule unveiled their joint 240-page program for the country's post-election future. The program promises to roll back Erdogan's presidential powers and introduce a strengthened parliamentary democracy, but Demirtas says it aims only to repair "falling coatings and burst pipes"

"It is not a text that should be cast aside altogether, but it is both incomplete and has a broken compass, because its indicator always shows the state, not the people or the individual,” said the former co-chair of the HDP (Peoples’ Democratic Society), suggesting that in a democratic society there should be “less state, more people.”

The six parties-known as the Alliance or Table of Six-have been criticized by the HDP for not giving enough weight in the program to the Kurdish and Alevi sectors of society, two ethnic and religious minorities they believe are the most oppressed.

"The text is also extremely problematic in terms of the rights of the Kurds as a people, the beliefs and demands of the Alevis for equal citizenship, and the women's rights," Demirtas said.

Demirtas said these were all deliberate choices because "the Naiton Alliance is right-wing"

He added: "The text does not touch on fundamental issues such as workers' right to strike, trade union freedom, the right to protest and demonstrate, workers' right to social security and job security, and discrimination against LGBTQIA+"

He concluded:

"Despite its shortcomings, this text will resonate with some segments of the public. Because the public could not be told there could be something better, it could not be shown. This is the failure and responsibility of the leftist parties in Turkey. The task of the Alliance for Jobs and Freedom is to fill this gap and show people that another world is possible."