Turkey’s Kurds eye kingmaker role in election against Erdogan

Kurds who have long felt sidelined in Turkish politics could have a decisive role in a closely fought May election that will determine whether President Tayyip Erdogan extends his rule after more than two decades in power.

With polls showing support finely balanced between Erdogan's ruling alliance and the opposition, the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) is a potential kingmaker, although a court bid to ban it may mean it has to reform under a new party umbrella.

Among Kurds who gathered on Tuesday for the Newroz spring festival in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir, those opposed to Erdogan were upbeat about their chances of securing his defeat at the presidential and parliamentary polls on May 14.

"We expect the regime to go and we will fight for it. We have high hopes for the election. Our peoples are standing together in all their colors,"...