The Labour, Democracy and Freedom Bloc (Turkish: Emek, Demokrasi ve Özgürlük Bloğu) was an electoral alliance formed by the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) with several other smaller left-wing parties and political movements in Turkey. The alliance contested the 2011 general election by fielding candidates from participating parties as independents in order to bypass the 10% election threshold needed to win seats in the Turkish Grand National Assembly. The alliance won 5.67% of the vote, initially winning 36 MPs. The Supreme Electoral Council of Turkey later annulled the election of BDP MP Hatip Dicle in Diyarbakır, reducing the alliance's elected MPs to 35. The Bloc fielded 65 candidates in 41 provinces.
The main participants were the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party, the Labour Party (EMEP) and the Equality and Democracy Party (EDP). The EMEP had formed an alliance with the BDP's predecessor Democratic Society Party in the 2007 general election under the Thousand Hope Candidates banner. The EMEP leader Levent Tüzel, who failed to win election in 2007, was elected as an MP in 2011 as part of the Bloc. Several other smaller parties from left-wing origins were also part of the Bloc, though only the EMEP and the EDP had the right to contest the election as parties. The Labour Party fielded its own candidates as a party in provinces where the Bloc did not contest the election.
The alliance between several left-wing parties paved the way for the establishment of the Peoples' Democratic Congress. The Congress, in which many of the Bloc-supporting groups participated, established a political party named the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) in 2012. The HDP contested the June 2015 general election as a party with many of the Bloc parties support, winning 13.12% of the vote and ending the convention of fielding independent candidates for general elections.
2011 election The Bloc won 5.67% of the vote, with 35 of their candidates elected. The elected candidates mostly came from the Kurdish south-east of the country.
Candidates
Adana: Murat Bozlak Adıyaman: Veli Büyükşahin Ağrı: Halil Aksoy Ankara: Sadrettin Güvener, Gerciş Utaş Antalya: İhsan Nergiz Ardahan: Yüksel Avşar Aydın: Mehmet Bayraktar Balıkesir: Turan Cengiz Batman: Bengi Yıldız, Ayla Akat Ata Bingöl: İdris Baluken Bitlis: Hüsamettin Zenderlioğlu Bursa: Mehmet Deniz Denizli: Kemal Beler Diyarbakır: Leyla Zana, Hatip Dicle, Emine Ayna, Nursel Aydoğan, Altan Tan, Şerafettin Elçi Erzurum: Sabahattin Yılmaz Eskişehir: Hasan Yalçınkaya Gaziantep: Akın Birdal Hakkari: Selahattin Demirtaş, Adil Kurt, Esat Canan Iğdır: Pervin Buldan Istanbul: Levent Tüzel, Sırrı Süreyya Önder, Sebahat Tuncel
İzmir: Erdal Avcı, Mehmet Tanhan Kahramanmaraş: Mustafa Mamaklı Kars: Mülkiye Birtane Kırşehir: Faik Karadaş Kocaeli: Emrullah Bingöl Konya: Hacı Mehmet Bozdağ Malatya: Gani Rüzgar Şavata Manisa: Ayşegül Öztürk Mardin: Ahmet Türk, Gülser Yıldırım, Erol Dora Mersin: Ertuğrul Kürkçü Muğla: Şebal Şenyurt Muş: Sırrı Sakık, Demir Çelik Osmaniye: Kamuran Bablak Sakarya: Hüseyin Tanış Siirt: Gültan Kışanak Şanlıurfa: İbrahim Binici, İbrahim Ayhan Şırnak: Hasip Kaplan, Selma Irmak, Faysal Sarıyıldız Tekirdağ: Kerem Tosun Tunceli: Ferhat Tunç Van: Kemal Aktaş, Özdal Üçer, Nazmi Gür, Aysel Tuğluk Yalova: İhsan Coşkun
Not all of these candidates are BDP politicians. This includes Labour Party leader Levent Tüzel.
The following candidates were imprisoned due to the investigation into the KCK confederalist organisation. Diyarbakır: Hatip Dicle Van: Kemal Aktaş Şırnak: Selma Irmak, Faysal Sarıyıldız Şanlıurfa: İbrahim Ayhan Mardin: Gülseren Yıldırım.
Elected members Adana: Murat Bozlak Ağrı: Halil Aksoy Batman: Bengi Yıldız, Ayla Akat Ata Bingöl: İdris Baluken Bitlis: Hüsamettin Zenderlioğlu Diyarbakır: Leyla Zana, Hatip Dicle, Emine Ayna, Nursel Aydoğan, Altan Tan, Şerafettin Elçi Hakkari: Selahattin Demirtaş, Adil Kurt, Esat Canan Iğdır: Pervin Buldan Istanbul: Levent Tüzel, Sırrı Süreyya Önder, Sebahat Tuncel Kars: Mülkiye Birtane Mardin: Ahmet Türk, Gülser Yıldırım, Erol Dora Mersin: Ertuğrul Kürkçü Muş: Sırrı Sakık, Demir Çelik Siirt: Gültan Kışanak Şanlıurfa: İbrahim Binici, İbrahim Ayhan Şırnak: Hasip Kaplan, Selma Irmak, Faysal Sarıyıldız Van: Kemal Aktaş, Özdal Üçer, Nazmi Gür, Aysel Tuğluk
Votes won by participating parties elsewhere PartyVotesSeats Votes Percentage Swing Elected Seat ± Labour Party
See also 24th Parliament of Turkey Electoral system of Turkey Peoples' Democratic Congress Peace and Democracy Party Kurdish nationalism Thousand Hope Candidates
References
External links EMEP official website The BDP, having been dissolved in 2014 and replaced by the Democratic Regions Party, no longer has an active website.