ANKARA, July 29 (KUNA) -- Turkey’s pro-Kurdish party has been duped by enemies of the country’s solution process to end conflict between Ankara and the Kurdish population.
This comment was made by Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Yalcin Akdogan on Wednesday who said that the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) had been "used" to finish off the solution process between the government and the illegal Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
Akdogan told Anadolu Agency that "supporters of the status quo" had manipulated the HDP into sidelining Abdullah Ocalan, the PKK leader currently in a Turkish prison.
Akdogan said the HDP caused a "big provocation" by targeting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the run up to Turkey’s June 7 general election.
"It was this move that triggered the tensions," Akdogan said, recalling HDP leader Selahattin Demirtas saying: "We will not allow you to be elected president" a reference to Erdogan’s campaign to change the country to an executive presidential system.
The HDP, which won 80 seats in the election, has been accused of harboring links to the PKK, which is classified as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and European Union.
A recent wave of violence across Turkey has been sparked by the killing of 32 people in Suruc on July 20 in a suicide bomb attack blamed on Daesh.(end) rs.tg