The DEM Party’s decision reflects its tradition of naming a man and a woman as co-chairs of top posts and represents a departure from the strategy used in the 2019 local elections, when the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), the predecessor of the DEM Party, did not field a candidate and instead supported Ekrem Imamoglu, who managed to end the ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) longstanding rule in Istanbul with significant Kurdish voter support.
The candidates were announced after Basak Demirtas, the wife of the HDP’s jailed former leader Selahattin Demirtas, announced that she would not file an application to run as a mayoral candidate for Istanbul.
The prospects of Demirtas’s candidacy for İstanbul came to public attention last month when she told the Arti Gercek news website in an interview that she was considering a run.
Analysts viewed her as a strong candidate who would most likely take votes away from current mayor Imamoglu, who won the city from the AKP as the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) candidate.
Selahattin Demirtas received almost 10 percent of the vote when he challenged President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the 2014 and 2018 presidential elections in Turkey.
He was convicted of spreading “terrorist propaganda” in 2016 and sentenced to 142 years in prison.
He ran his second election campaign from prison.
In January President Erdogan tasked former environment minister Murat Kurum, 47, with winning back Istanbul.
The lack of critical support from Kurdish voters this time is likely to reduce Imamoglu’s chances of claiming another victory against the AKP candidate.
Imamoglu has been convicted of insulting a public official and could be forced to resign should the ruling be upheld.
Although their party was not included in an opposition bloc of six parties, Kurds also supported the candidacy of former CHP leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu in the May presidential election, which ended with Kilicdaroglu's defeat.
A secret deal made by Kilicdaroglu with a far-right party leader during the campaign that included pledges against Kurds led to resentment among Kurds when it came to public attention after the election, leading many of them to question their support for the party.
Kurds say they do not see sufficient support from the CHP for their demands regarding the expansion of their rights in return for their support for the party’s candidates in critical elections.

Selahattin Demirtas has defended his wife Basak Demirtas against criticism of her over her previous intention to run as mayoral candidate for İstanbul.
In a statement posted on X, Selahattin Demirtas criticized the pervasive skepticism and cynicism in Turkish politics, lamenting that political maneuvering often overshadows genuine efforts for democracy and peace.
He argued that the suspicion of ulterior motives behind every political move damages the potential for sincere political engagement to improve society.
Demiras also pointed to allegations of dialog between the DEM Party and the ruling AKP, stating that he doesn’t know if this exists, but said the lack of it would not be healthy and that such communication is crucial for addressing the country’s challenges. He emphasized that it was legitimate and responsible to engage in discussions with all political parties to solve national and social problems and called for more frequent exchanges between the DEM Party and the opposition CHP.
In response to accusations that his wife had struck a deal with Erdogan to withdraw support from the incumbent mayor of İstanbul in return for his release, the jailed party leader denied such allegations and emphasized the principled stance of the DEM Party and its commitment to democracy and peace.
Basak Demirtas’s decision not to run was made jointly with the DEM Party.