Turkish elections: 'This is still a success for us Kurds'

In the central Sur district in Diyarbakir, a predominantly Kurdish city in Turkey’s south-east, several men and women watched as workmen fitted a new iron door, replacing one destroyed during recent clashes in the neighbourhood.
As in many places in the city, the conversation turned to Sunday’s election, in which the ruling Justice and Development party (AKP) of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan returned to a single-rule government, while opposition parties such as the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic party [HDP] lost voters in many places, including Diyarbakir.
In the June elections, the HDP succeeded in securing a surprising 13% of all votes, a significant accomplishment for the party, formed around a platform that represents the country’s Kurdish population, but also a broader liberal and minority base. That success in turn denied the AKP an outright majority, but on Sunday the HDP barely managed to scrape into parliament, where they will occupy 59 seats, down from the 80 the party won in June.
“This was not the election result we expected,” said Mehmet Alacag, 38, a teacher. “It was not the outcome we wanted. But considering all the pressure the HDP was under and the bad things that happened, this is still a success for us Kurds.”