2018 Selahattin Demirtaş presidential campaign

Selahattin Demirtaş for President

Campaigned for	2018 Turkish presidential election
Candidate	Selahattin Demirtaş Former chairman of the HDP (2014-2018) Presidential candidate for the 2014 presidential election (2014) The former leader of the BDP (2010-2014)
Affiliation	HDP
Status	Announced 25 Apr 2018 Official nominee 4 May 2018

Selahattin Demirtaş was officially announced as the candidate of the People's Democratic Party (HDP) on 4 May 2018, after members of the party had hinted at his candidacy weeks in advance. Party leader Pervin Buldan declared that Demirtaş, a jailed former co-chair of the HDP, would be leading a five-party "Kurdish alliance" into the general election.

Program

Selahattin Demirtaş's campaign being launched outside Edirne prison where he is incarcerated, 25 May

• Defending “No” for the 2017 Turkish constitutional referendum
  • 18 proposed amendments to the Constitution of Turkey
    (Full details)
• More Minority and Women’s rights
• Building a country without Capitalism
• The support of Turkish membership of the European Union

Foreign policy

On European Union–Turkey relations, Demirtaş is known for his long-time support for Turkey’s EU accession process, focusing on the pledge to uphold human rights, local democracy, separation of powers and the rule of law as the main tenets of his future presidency. He distinguishes himself from other candidates in his unwavering criticism of what he sees as Brussels's neo-liberal economic agenda.