Presidential Election Debate A Good Idea, Says Demirtaş

All three presidential nominees discussing issues on television would be a good idea at a time when polarization has reached a peak, presidential candidate Selahattin Demirtaş has said.

Demirtaş, who came together on Wednesday with the head of the EU's delegation to Turkey, Ambassador Stefano Manservisi, and First Counselor François Naucodie, spoke to journalists after a meeting with the EU diplomats.

Demirtaş said he responded to questions posed by the ambassador. Demirtaş said: “So far, the ambassador has had the opportunity to meet with two of the candidates. We know that they have also met with Mr. [Ekmeleddin] İhsanoğlu. It doesn't look like they will find a possibility to meet with the third candidate,” he said, referring to the prime minister and the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) presidential nominee, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. “It looks like the three candidates will not appear together in front of the public,” he said.

The Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) candidate said the EU was closely following the presidential candidate and the ambassador was most curious about what sort of a presidency the candidates promise and what targets they have set. “They also want to know what our stance would be if we can make it to the second round of voting, or if we can't. At the same time, I am the co-chairman of the HDP, so they also wanted to know about our party's vision for Turkey. Regional developments, particularly the developments in Syria and Iraq, are also issues the EU follows closely.”

In response to a question as to what he thinks of a television debate among the presidential candidates, Demirtaş said: “I see a huge benefit in [the three candidates] coming together on a television program. We are electing the president of the people and the people have a right to know their president better. They have the right to understand their president in all details. This can only be possible in an atmosphere where the candidates can be compared to another at the same time, in an environment where questions can be asked objectively. If the people don't know some of the candidates well with so little time before the election, and if they have any doubts, these should be addressed. I have stated that I am open to this [TV debate] and that I am ready to answer any question live on television.” He also noted, “I am open to discussing everything about our personal lives, the assets we own, our past and our future, because I want to be the president of the people.”

--- Election not a battle

He also said it would not be helpful to have a program in which only two of the candidates participate. “It would be good for the voters to have all three candidates at the same time. This culture needs to develop in Turkey. We are not preparing for war. We are not enemies of Mr. Erdoğan or Mr. İhsanoğlu; nor are they ours. We are only engaging in political competition. There are unfair practices and anti-democratic methods [in the presidential process], and we certainly criticize these, but we are not going to a battlefield on Aug. 10. In an environment where human relations are being ignored, and there are no relationships between political [rivals], the awareness to engage in democratic politics cannot grow. Mr. Erdoğan is also not contributing. He is deepening the polarization.”(Cihan/Today's Zaman)

SHOTLIST
TURKEY, ISTANBUL, 30 JULY 2014

VAR of Demirtaş and other HDP members
VAR of Demirtaş's statements

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