The current government in Turkey “wants to boost nationalist and chauvinistic sentiments” by trying to strengthen anti-Kurdish sentiment in order not to lose the upcoming general elections, Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) executive committee member Murat Karayılan told Stêrk TV on Wednesday.
Karayılan said that the elections scheduled on 14 May would be a crucial turning point for the Kurdish people as well as for all people living in Turkey, and added that the current authoritarian administration whose focus was managing the war from one hand, has weakened Turkish society. “It is not only a president who will be elected; mainly the system will be elected,” said the People’s Defense Center (HSM) Headquarters Commander Karayılan.
Karayılan, who expressed his doubts that the current government would accept leaving their position if they lose the election, forecasts that “various dark incidents will be organised” in this highly strategic period. The commander evaluates the right-wing opposition Good Party’s (İYİP) withdrawal from Turkey’s opposition alliance Table of Six and quick return soon after as an example of such incidents.
“For example, some wings of the government wanted to disband the Table of Six through the İYİP,” said Karayılan. “Those who planned this saw that it would backfire.”
The commander concludes that this incident strengthens the democratic movement in Turkey because the people’s desire for change has emerged.
On the other hand, according to Karayılan, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its far-right ally, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) want to create an atmosphere of pre-election chaos in Turkey, and the recent attack on Amedspor players in Bursa was a part of this plan.
“The attack on the players is an attack on all Kurds,” Karayılan said and underlined that the public’s reaction to the attack was also promising.
However, Karayılan did not considers it a positive development that the Constitutional Court postponed the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democracy Party’s (HDP) oral defence to 11 April in the ongoing closure case against the party, saying it was “a tactic and a trap”. He said that he believes the HDP as well as the Labour and Freedom Alliance is aware of this.
Emphasising that Turkey’s struggle for freedom and democracy has entered a crucial period, Karayılan said the attitude of the people who fight for democracy will play an essential role in the future of the country.
