Turkey’s recent elections were unfair and the ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) alliance with the fundamentalist Free Cause Party (HÜDA-PAR) poses grave dangers to Kurdish people, Syrian Kurdish politician Saleh Moslem told ANHA News Agency on Tuesday.
Top members of HÜDA-PAR have faced convictions related to Kurdish Hizbullah, an extremist Sunni group known for torture and murder of political opponents as well as Islamic scholars who disagreed with them during the 1990s, at the height of Turkey’s conflict with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
The Democratic Union Party (PYD) leader pointed to the consolidation of support around President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and said the Turkish government had become deeply intertwined with Hizbullah, mafia networks, and other criminal elements.
According to Muslim, Erdoğan has cemented his grip on power via this consolidation, a development he deems highly detrimental to Turkey, warning that it may plunge the country into an uncertain and troubling period.
Regarding the pre-election period, Moslem accused the Turkish government of launching widespread attacks against the Kurdish population from all directions.
“The government wanted to destroy and eliminate the Kurds in this election. It wanted to bring the attacks carried out in Kurdistan in the last eight years to a conclusion,” he said, but the government’s efforts “did not yield the desired outcome”.
Kurdish people are resilient and able to defend themselves while leading a struggle for democracy, Moslem said. He considered the electoral success of the pro-Kurdish Green Left Party, which secured 61 seats as the third largest party in parliament, a testament to their determination “despite attacks, pressure, and fraud”.
The Turkish government’s policy in northeastern Syria poses a danger not only to the Kurdish-led regions but also to the entire Middle East, Moslem continued. The Syrian Kurdish leader believes Erdoğan’s policies will not be tolerated by international powers, and that the government will face “economic, political, and social bankruptcy”.
However, Moslem still foresees persistent Turkish attacks on Kurdish forces in Syria, and urged to take precautionary measures.
