Istanbul, Turkey – Standing tentatively on the fringes of a protest in Istanbul, Asmin Y says she has no choice but to vote for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s main challenger, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, because her desired candidate is not on the ballot and has been behind bars since 2016.
The 30-year-old teacher, who did not want to give her full name, was referring to Selahattin Demirtas, the former co-leader of the predominantly pro-Kurdish socialist Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), who ran against Erdogan for the presidency in 2018, from his prison cell.
