Election campaign song voiced by Demirtas in prison
The election campaign song for the bloc of six parties including the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) came as a surprise at its debut during the bloc's first rally in Istanbul as it emerged that the song was voiced by imprisoned Kurdish politician Selahattin Demirtas, who also wrote the lyrics and composed it.
Emek ve Özgürlük İttifakı'nın “Savaşa, yoksulluğa, baskılara dur diyelim. Birlikte değiştirelim” şiarıyla İstanbul Kartal’da düzenlediği mitinge on binler akın ediyor. pic.twitter.com/6wsGgSQHbp
— Mezopotamya Ajansı (@MAturkce) January 15, 2023
The song "We are the workers" was played for the first time at the rally of the Labor and Freedom Alliance in Istanbul's Kartal, attended by thousands of people. The song was apparently voiced in prison by Demirtas, but no information has yet been available on how it was actually recorded.
Selahattin Demirtaş'tan Emek ve Özgürlük İttifakı için yazdığı seçim şarkısı:
— HaberLog (@LogHaber) January 15, 2023
"Kına yolladım yaksana
Buradan bir tek oy yok sana..." pic.twitter.com/vb730W6gss
The video of the song begins with the images of Demirtas releasing a white dove during a past political event.
Demirtas is accompanied by the Tigris and Euphrates Chorus in the song. Azad Bedran and Deniz Kaya contributed to production.
The lyrics of the song read:
"We are the people, the workers / United we resemble a pomegranate / Now you'd better find a place to flee / For we are coming to assume power / We are the hope, the workers"
Demirtas earlier said on Friday:
"We'll have a present for you in the first meeting of the Labor and Freedom Alliance, hope you'll like it."
He added:
"I'll be waiting for you there, see you :)"
The six-party bloc includes five socialist parties and groups alongside HDP: The Labor Party (EMEP), Workers Party of Turkey (TIP), Pro-Labor Movement Party (EHP), Social Freedom Party (TOP) and Federation of Socialist Councils (SMF).
