The Justice and Development Party (AKP) is known throughout their rule to have accused opposition parties in Turkey of “siding with terrorists” but the public are “no longer convinced” by this smear campaign, said the co-chair of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), Mithat Sancar, in a live broadcast on Tuesday.
Sancar called on voters to be vigilant against the government’s “hostile mentality” and said that in contrast the pro-Kurdish HDP insists on democratic politic.
Sancar evaluated opposition block presidential candidate and Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu’s statements on Monday, that urged the public not to fall for the government’s anti-Kurdish propaganda, as “a declaration of will for a democratic and peaceful life”.
Sancar also recalled that last week the far-right leader of the Zafer (Victory) Party, Ümit Özdağ, called HDP voters “murderers”, and said that labelling the opposition as such was “a very clear reflection of the hostile policies and mentality that disintegrates the country.”
Özdağ, an open advocate of anti-immigrant and anti-Kurdish policies, responded to a young woman that told him she intended to vote HDP by saying, “But you don’t look like a murderer.” Such statements contribute to the government’s rhetoric, said Sancar.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the AKP accuses the HDP of being an extension of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which the Turkish government deems a terrorist organisation. The Erdoğan administration accuses opposition CHP of “collaborating with terrorists” over both its talks with the HDP and Kılıçdaroğlu’s pledge to put a peaceful end the Kurdish conflict in the country.
On Monday Kılıçdaroğlu said that the government was treating millions of Kurds as terrorists in accusations that have intensified in the run-up to the elections.
Erdoğan and AKP officials continue to smear the opposition. In a live broadcast on Tuesday, Erdoğan repeated his accusations against the HDP and CHP. Meanwhile, PKK official Duran Kalkan on Tuesday said that AKP itself has carried out more talks than any other political party with the PKK guerrilla movement.