Erdogan comments attack Kurds as snap election set for Nov. 1

26-08-2015
Rudaw
Tags: Turkey election Erdogan Kurds PKK HDP
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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - As Turkey announced that the snap general elections for the summer’s inconclusive polls will be held on November 1, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan launched his unofficial campaign with an attack on the Kurds.

The state-run Anadolu Agency reported that the re-election date was officially announced by the Supreme Election Board, after the president called snap general polls early this week.

In an address to a group of village governors, the president said on Wednesday that the re-election would “clear up the problems created by the June 7” parliamentary polls.

“The will of the nation is important. The parliament could not solve this problem. Then, the nation will resolve (it),” local media reports quoted Erdogan as saying.

The June poll was inconclusive after none of the main parties -- including the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) that stands behind Erdogan – won an overall majority. Attempts at trying to form coalitions never got off the ground.

In his meeting with the village heads, Erdogan also attacked the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), the outlawed group against which Ankara has again been at war for a month. The president blamed the PKK for wrecking a 2013 peace process to end a three-decade conflict.

Erdogan accused the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), which in the June polls emerged as the main challenger to AKP, of aiming to divide the country.

The HDP won enough votes for a seat in parliament by attracting non-Kurdish voters, in addition to its Kurdish support base.

The win was a setback to Erdogan, who was hoping for enough AKP seats in parliament to push through his plan to make himself head of government and to have greater powers.

According to the Hurriyet Daily, Erdogan accused the HDP of duplicity, saying it had flown the Turkish flag at some campaign rallies to dupe“ “White Turks,” a reference to secular liberal voters. 

Erdogan warned that the PKK must lay down its arms, suggesting the government has no plans for a ceasefire in a war that reignited after the PKK claimed responsibility for killing two Turkish officers last month.

“The police and soldiers of the state don’t lay down arms,” Erdogan declared, warning that the PKK who should “bury arms or leave the country.”


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