Turkey’s third-largest political party, the pro-Kurdish Democratic People's Party (HDP), announced over the weekend that it will field its own candidate in the critical presidential elections due to be held by June 18 concurrently with parliamentary ones.
The decision, relayed by HDP co-chair Pervin Buldan, is poised to have a profound impact on the presidential race. Opinion is divided as to who stands to benefit: the main opposition bloc known as the “Nation Alliance," which does not include the HDP, or Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and far-right nationalist leader Devlet Bahceli and their “People's Alliance.”
