As President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan secured his re-election yesterday in a historic vote, Kurdish voters in eastern and southeastern parts of the country played a critical role in the overall outcome of the elections.
The Peoples' Democratic Party's (HDP) presidential candidate Demirtaş received the majority of the vote in southeastern and eastern Diyarbakır, Mardin, Batman, Siirt, Şırnak, Hakkari, Van, Ağrı and Iğdır provinces. While President Erdoğan received around 28 percent of the vote in Diyarbakır by the time Daily Sabah went to print, he garnered around 37 percent of the vote in Mardin. He was estimated to have increased his votes in Mardin while losing a couple percent of the vote in Diyarbakır. Diyarbakır and Mardin are known to be two of the most significant Kurdish-dominated provinces across Turkey.
The HDP won 65 percent of the vote in Diyarbakır and 56 percent of the vote in Mardin. Meanwhile, the pro-PKK HDP steered into Parliament once again after passing the 10 percent national election threshold.
The pro-PKK party also came out victors in the eastern and southeastern provinces. In Şırnak and Hakkari provinces, where the party is relatively stronger, it garnered nearly 70 percent of the vote. In the Justice and Development Party's (AK Party) southeastern stronghold Şanlıurfa province, President Erdoğan received more than 65 percent of the vote while the AK Party attracted around 53 percent of the population, winning eight seats in Parliament.
