Pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Co-Chair Selahattin Demirtaş has expressed reservations over a possible coalition on Thursday saying there is a slim chance of forging a coalition amid the lack of compromising between the parties. He said even if forming an coalition is accomplished, "it will never be durable." Demirtaş, who has purportedly shunned snap elections not to take the risk of losing votes that brought it over the 10 percent election threshold and assisted his party's entrance into Parliament, for the first time has said "a new election is required for things to be on track."
His remarks came as a response to reporters' questions during the third round of the Parliament speaker elections that were held on Wednesday. İsmet Yılmaz from Justice and Development Party (AK Party) won over Deniz Baykal, Republican People's Party (CHP) candidate. Demirtaş also commented on the results, which were largely disappointing for the CHP and HDP, which joined forces to elect Baykal as the speaker during final round of the elections and said the post has been conferred to the AK Party, alluding to the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). MHP used blank votes in the fourth round and said they would not support Baykal because of HDP support for him. In doing so, the MHP increased the chances of Yılmaz being elected.
The MHP has handed the win to the AK Party. May the MHP enjoy it," he said. Demirtaş is not the only one to react to the results of the election. The opposition's inability to strike a compromise and come up with a joint candidate against the AK Party has rankled some CHP deputies who castigated the MHP for supporting the AK Party indirectly by not supporting the CHP in the final round.
CHP spokesman Haluk Koç, shortly after Yılmaz was elected for the post, criticized the MHP saying: ""The office of Parliament speaker has been handed to the AK Party on a silver platter,"
"We have seen the blatant signs of a coalition. They [the AK Party and MHP] suit each other very well," Koç said. He branded the MHP's harsh stance against a coalition as posturing, saying the Parliament speaker election has shown which party supports which.
Demirtaş and Kılıçdaroğlu agreed on a bloc proposed by the latter for a coalition government that exclude the AK Party, but the aspiration was not viable as the MHP declared that it would never be part of a plan that involves the HDP. The MHP's firm stance, which from the beginning ruled out any option that includes the HDP, left only options of a coalition with the AK Party available.
The HDP has been inconsistent in its idea of a coalition as at the start it said it would never align with the AK Party and MHP, but later softened its stance apparently after a warning from a high-level PKK figure who said it is not right to close doors to any party in politics. However, even if the HDP has slightly changed its stance, the atmosphere has not changed in the MHP.
