Peoples' Democratic Party (Turkey) Peoples' Democratic Party (Turkey) The Peoples' Democratic Party (Turkish: "Halkların Demokratik Partisi" (HDP), Kurdish: "Partiya Demokratîk a Gelan"), or Democratic Party of the Peoples, is a pro-minority political party in Turkey. Generally left-wing, the party places a strong emphasis on participatory democracy, radical democracy, feminism, minority rights, youth rights and egalitarianism. It is an associate member of the Party of European Socialists (PES) and consultative member of the Socialist International. Aspiring to fundamentally challenge the existing Turkish-Kurdish divide and other existing parameters in Turkish politics, the HDP was founded in 2012 as the political wing of the Peoples' Democratic Congress,
Freedom and Solidarity Party the initial groupings left. In 2002 elections, the party's share of the national vote fell further to 0.3%. In the 2004 local elections, the ÖDP gained control of two town halls in Artvin and Yozgat provinces. In these elections, the ÖDP had joined an electoral coalition with the pro-Kurdish Democratic People's Party (Turkey) (DEHAP) and the left Social Democrat SHP (Sosyaldemokrat Halk Partisi). At the next 2009 local elections, Mithat Nehir was the sole victorious ÖDP candidate in the entire republic (17,723 votes for the whole country, i.e. 0.04%), and became mayor of the Samandağ district. Ufuk Uras, who was