HDP election promises: free childcare, March 8 as national holiday

JINHA

ISTANBUL – Yesterday, the opposition Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) announced their platform for Turkey's June election at an Istanbul press conference. The party is putting the needs of oppressed groups and interests in Turkey front in center, including women, LGBTQI people, children, workers, nature, people with disabilities and non-Turkish groups.

For women (whose needs are listed first in the manifesto), the HDP proposes making March 8 (International Working Women's Day) a national holiday, opening free multilingual daycare centers in every neighborhood and calculating domestic labor in the social security system.

The HDP is also promising basic economic support packages for all segments of society. The manifesto proposes raising Turkey's monthly minimum wage to 1,800 TL ($670), providing a basic utilities and rent support package for all households, and distributing a special card to youth that provides credit for transit and communication.

The manifesto proposes a Ministry of Women to replace the current Ministry of Family and Social Policies, which has come under fire for targeting women's issues only insofar as women are homemakers and mothers, and for taking no measures to stop violence against women and femicide. The HDP also vows to recognize LGBTQI identity in the constitution (a major demand of Turkey's LGBTQI movement).

"The election manifesto that we present is the nightmare of the sultan and the dream of all the peoples of Turkey," said party co-chair Figen Yüksekdağ, in an apparent reference to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who is representing the upcoming elections as a referendum to switch from the current parliamentary system to a presidential one. The HDP hopes to stop the President from getting the votes necessary to make the change. They will need to pass Turkey's extremely high 10% vote threshold in order to enter the Parliament.

“We are not below the election threshold, but it is too early to say we have passed it already," said co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş, in response to questions from the press. The co-chairs emphasized the need for election security and observers at every poll. The AKP has been accused of election fraud in the past, and that in elections when their power was not at stake to this degree.

Yesterday, in the city of Seydişehir in the inner Anatolian province of Konya, police detained HDP candidates and student volunteers for distributing the manifesto.

The manifesto, echoing the HDP's campaign song "Our Selves to Parliament" ("Biz'ler Meclise"), emphasizes identity with headings like "we are the rainbow." Firat News Agency has translated the full list of campaign promises into English.

(nt/cm)