CHP leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu repeatedly referred to Turkey’s Kurdish problem in his party’s 37th ordinary congress over the weekend, signaling efforts by the main opposition party to strengthen ties with HDP, Selvi, known for his close ties to the ruling Justice and Development Party, wrote in Hurriyet newspaper.

The HDP and CHP began their cooperation in the 2018 general and presidential elections, when some members of the pro-Kurdish party supported CHP candidate Muharrem Ince and the main opposition, in return, lent a hand to the HDP to overcome the electoral threshold.

The unlikely unofficial alliance continued in the 2019 local elections, when the HDP did not name mayoral candidates for seven major cities, Istanbul, Ankara, the western city of Izmir, in a bid to allow opposition candidates to garner enough votes to capture some of Turkey’s largest cities.

The CHP went on to capture five of the country’s six most populous provinces in the largest blow to the ruling AKP in its 17 years of power, demonstrating the key role of millions of Kurdish voters in the country.

In the CHP parliamentary group meeting on Tuesday, Kilicdaroglu once again touched on Turkey’s Kurdish problem, Ahval reported.

“The Kurdish issue has been discussed for 40 years. I promise you here, that as the chairman of the CHP I will solve this problem within diplomatic standards and Turkey’s sovereignty,’’ Selvi said.

The outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) has been fighting for self-rule in the mainly Kurdish southeast of Turkey for more than three decades. Some 40,000 people, most of them Kurds, are thought to have been killed in the conflict.

Ankara accuses the HDP of harboring sympathies and acting in the interest of the PKK.

“I don’t know if the CHP will announce its Kurdish report after this,’’ Selvi wrote, “but it would be beneficial to follow the rapprochement between the CHP and the HDP during this time.’’

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