The opposition Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) held its congress on Sunday amid rumors that it may undergo a significant overhaul. Party sources quoted by the media say the transformation is scheduled for the future, while Sunday’s event in Ankara was merely the fulfillment of a technical requirement for political parties to hold their regular congresses.
The DEM Party follows a left-wing ideology, but its signature issue has been Kurdish rights. Although popular in the southeastern provinces with predominantly Kurdish populations, the DEM Party has narrowed its fight for Kurdish rights to its association with the terrorist group PKK. The party played a key role in the Terror-Free Türkiye initiative launched by Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli for the dissolution of the PKK.
It postponed its congress during the course of the initiative, which led to the implementation of a new law providing for the deferral of sentences for surrendered PKK members. In parallel with the initiative, the DEM Party will likely be transformed as its main argument, “peace” with the PKK, enters a new phase. The PKK’s jailed ringleader, Abdullah Öcalan, in his messages to the public through DEM Party lawmakers, highlighted “democratic struggle” after the PKK’s dissolution, and political pundits say this may lead to a transformation in the party. Some even go further, claiming that Öcalan may become the “honorary” chair of the DEM Party.
The DEM Party held its last congress in 2023, and it was at that congress that the party changed its name from the Green Left Party and elected incumbent co-Chairs Tuncer Bakırhan and Tülay Hatimoğulları. The duo was elected again at Sunday's congress. Party spokesperson Ayşegül Doğan told BBC Turkish that another congress would be held in the near future, where the party would undergo a substantial change, though she did not hint at what changes the future would bring. She only stated that they were planning to establish a model that would “strengthen the understanding of a democratic republic.”
Addressing the congress on Sunday, Hatimoğulları said it was a “threshold where DEM will review its policies.” She underlined the need for changes in the party’s organization and political language, noting that social expectations and policymaking have changed in recent years.
The party is a continuation of parties like the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), which strictly aligned itself with the PKK and advocated for policies the PKK desired, such as greater autonomy for southeastern provinces. Its open support for the terrorist group paved the way for investigations into DEM Party members. The party was quick to boost pro-PKK propaganda after the new law on Terror-Free Türkiye was implemented, angering critics of the initiative by setting up “condolence events” for PKK terrorists who died years ago in counterterrorism operations.
The party has long been ahead of other small opposition parties and, for the opposition, was viewed as a kingmaker when it was called the HDP. In the 2023 elections, the DEM Party’s predecessor supported the main opposition candidate for the presidency. In the 2024 municipal elections, the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) sought a less blatant alliance with the DEM Party, and DEM Party voters’ support for CHP candidates in the local elections reportedly led to unprecedented wins for the latter.
Yet, the Terror-Free Türkiye initiative pushed the DEM Party to pursue closer ties with the People’s Alliance of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and MHP. Indeed, it was Bahçeli’s warm handshake with DEM Party lawmakers at the inauguration of the new Parliament session in 2024 that paved the way for the declaration of the Terror-Free Türkiye initiative. The DEM Party still remains a fierce opponent of the alliance, though it is mostly on the same page regarding the Terror-Free Türkiye initiative. The opposition, meanwhile, remains fragmented over the initiative.
Bakırhan said at the congress that the party would remain a “third way” in the current political landscape in Türkiye. He stated that the congress was also the beginning of a new political era they defined as the “democratic republic movement.”
