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Notes -
Do you reckon Zafer Party will be able to come to some kind of agreement with KK?
No clue. It’s still up in the air. Everyone was falling over themselves to have a phone call with Oğan last night. My expectations:
Erdoğan will almost definitely win regardless, which means Oğan can get some actual power in exchange of support. Opposition promises are as good as worthless.
Opposition block includes the support of the Kurdish independence movement. I doubt how many of his voters would follow him if he came to an agreement with KK.
I was talking about this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Cause_Party
Their name (HÜDA PAR = Allah Party using one of the many names of Allah) is a bit of a pun on Hezbollah which simply means Party of God.
The state in the past has used them from time to time for dirty urban contra-guerilla stuff against the Kurdish movement. Members of the state security establishment sometimes tacitly acknowledges that Islam is what really binds Kurds to Turkey, and without Islam there is nothing other than brute force that can keep them loyal. Therefore sometimes extreme groups such as this are tolerated.
Despite his current nationalist bend, Erdogan is the first mainstream politician that broke a great many taboos with regards to Kurds in Turkey, and he typically polls very strong in Kurdish regions, successfully rivaling the Kurdish independence movement especially among the more religious Kurds.
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