İSTANBUL - Expressing that the Green Left Party will be the representative of the hope of the people in the May 14 elections, Ahmet Asena, a member of the Green Left Party MYK, said that their only goal is the Democratic Republic.

 

Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) will enter the Greens and Left Future Party (Green Left Party) lists in the May 14 elections due to the ongoing closure case. While the Labor and Freedom Alliance presented the election alliance protocol to the Supreme Election Board on March 24, the alliance component parties continued their election work at full speed.

 

We talked to Ahmet Asena, a member of the Green Left Party Central Executive Board (MYK), who will enter the elections under the umbrella of the Labor and Freedom Alliance, about their election strategies, objectives and work.

 

REBUILDING THE ORGANIZATION

 

Stating that the peoples of Turkey have been resisting against the AKP and MHP governments for many years, Asena said: "These groups are tried to be suppressed with violence and oppression. The anger and rebellion that emerged after the earthquakes that took place in Maraş on February 6 revealed the social dynamics. These voices and objections, the next election opened a serious space for us. This election created a space for organizing to build the Democratic Republic in the country of tomorrow. The Labor and Freedom Alliance, which includes the HDP and its components, should be organized for this construction."

 

THE OBJECTIVE OF DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC

 

Referring to the strategic importance of the election, Asena said: "This is a process that will never end by just going to the polls. The problems won't be absent with the fall of Erdoğan or having 80-100 MPs in the election. This stands before us as a very important strategic goal. When we look at the election strategy in the narrow sense, it is very important to overthrow the current government. For this, the voters must favor the Labor and Freedom Alliance, which entered the elections with the Green Left Party, and we must ensure that the people turn towards this place. There is a need for a Democratic Republic where representative democracy is now at its limits and will be formed by local governments and ensure the participation of the people. We hope that the chance to establish this republic will come before this society with the election. It is the indispensable duty of today to create a Democratic Republic where peoples can express themselves in an equal and free environment, where faith groups, workers, women and young people find themselves there equally and freely."

 

WOMEN AND YOUTH

 

Underlining that HDP will enter the elections with the Green Left Party, they need to introduce the Green Left to all social segments, especially the Kurdish people. To introduce the Freedom Alliance program, the election manifesto that will be prepared and presented to the public, to the Kurdish people, and to turn the faces of around 7 million voters who will vote for the first time here. One of our gains in the election process is their uprising. At this point, there is a need for youth to reveal their attitudes. Youth is always the spearhead that comes before social dynamics. We believe that this task will be fulfilled in the elections. We aim to return the direction of women's struggle to us. If the steps are already taken and the streets are groaning with the slogan 'jin, jiyan, azadi', we guess that the base of this struggle will turn towards us. This is one of our important strategic goals."

 

CALL TO VOTERS

 

Asena warned the voters who will vote in the elections: “After the change in the current alliances law, I would like to underline a critical point here. The Labor and Freedom Alliance unfortunately does not enter the elections as a single list, it will enter the elections with 2 or 3 party logos. Now, according to the current electoral system, when an alliance passes the threshold, all parties within that alliance pass the threshold; however, it is calculated one by one when the MPs are calculated. In other words, the Green Left is calculated separately, the TİP is calculated separately, the CHP, AKP, MHP, candidate nominations in those alliances are calculated separately. Therefore, we want those who will vote for the Green Left here to give to the Green Left, which will appear under the Labor and Freedom Alliance logo on the election paper, so that we do not go to the parliament without winning the MPs we can win. If we can achieve this, we will emerge with a strong group.”

 

Adding that the works for the elections have started in all regions, Asena said that these works will intensify in the future.

 

SOLUTION OFFERS

 

Stating that they aspire to solve the country's problems with the Green Left Party, Asena said: "We will publish the election manifesto. There are very comprehensive proposals in our declaration. When we look at it in general, we have promises towards a society where equality, freedom and democracy exist for all peoples, where young people can freely exist and where they have the right to speak. In this respect, we have prepared a program towards a democratic republic in Turkey that respects the rights of nature, stops ecological destruction. The matters that will be included in our declaration include these. For example, returning to the Istanbul Convention is one of the demands, we have a series of suggestions for solutions to the ancient problems of these lands, such as expanding union rights, providing professional development with young workers without being cut off from their wages, recognizing the rights of the Kurdish people, ending the trustee regimes, and ending the Imrali isolation. 

 

THE HOPE OF THE PEOPLES IS THE GREEN LEFT

 

Expressing that the hope of the people in this election will be the Green Left Party, Asena said: “The expression of that hope will be the Green Left in these elections. When we look at the people who have struggled in our history, let's look at the HDP tradition, we see which party it is. The Green Left is the representative of hope in these elections as well.”

 

MA / Ergin Çağlar