Huda-Par to support Erdogan in presidential election

Huda-Par to support Erdogan in presidential election
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The Islamist Free Cause Party has said it will support President Tayyip Erdogan in the upcoming presidential election

The Kurdish Islamist Huda-Par (Free Cause Party) announced on Friday that it will support President Erdogan in the presidential election scheduled for May 14.

Earlier, Erdogan had signaled that his People's Alliance would be supported by Huda Par after the New Welfare Party announced it would join the alliance.

Both Huda Par and New Welfare are religiously conservative parties with small voter bases. Huda Par was founded in 2012, a decade after the Hezbollah group (not related to the Lebaneese Shia organization Hezbollah) ceased armed activities in Turkey. The party was founded to challenge the dominance of the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), the predecessor of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), in southeastern Turkey.

"We have decided to support the People's Alliance candidate for president, Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, after consulting with our relevant bodies beforehand. Our talks for the parliamentary elections are continuing," said Zekeriya Yapicioglu, chair of Huda-Par.

The Mezopotamya news agency claimed that the AKP (Justice and Development Party) had promised to recruit two deputies from Van and Batman provinces to Huda-Par in order to win their support in the run-up to the parliamentary elections.

Erdogan announced Friday that the elections will be held on May 14, a month earlier than originally planned.