PM hits out at HDP head over Ankara blasts remarks

TRABZON – Doğan News Agency

Turkish PM Ahmet Davutoğlu soeaking at a rally in the Black Sea province of Trabzo non Oct. 19, 2015. AA Photo.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has ramped up the rhetoric against Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş, saying he should “look in the mirror” if he wants to see a murderer, referring to Demirtaş’s chanting of “murderer state” after the deadly Oct. 10 Ankara bombing.

“The leader [of the HDP], who today tries to present himself as an icon of democracy, provoked the masses to hit the streets in the Kobane protests. Fifty of our citizens lost their lives in those incidents, but now he shouts ‘murderer state’ at rallies, when the funerals of the Ankara bombing victims are still being held one after the other. If he wants to see a murderer, he should look in the mirror,” Davutoğlu said at a rally in the Black Sea province of Trabzon on Oct. 19.

Demirtaş has long been accused both by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Justice and Development Party (AKP) officials of provoking the protests that erupted against the Ankara’s perceived inaction toward the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant’s (ISIL) siege of the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobane in late 2014. 

Deadly protests erupted in cities across southeastern Turkey during last year’s Eid al-Adha holiday after ISIL militants entered parts of Kobane on Oct. 6, 2014, leaving at least 40 dead.

Speaking in Trabzon, Davutoğlu also criticized Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli on his attitude on counterterrorism.

“Dear Bahçeli left us alone in fighting terrorism. He said ‘no’ to the will of the peoples of Turkey,” the prime minister said, slamming the MHP for its reluctance to engage in coalition negotiations after the June 7 election.

Meanwhile, HDP co-chair Demirtaş has responded to other remarks made by Davutoğlu that criticized former President Abdullah Gül for conveying his condolences over the Ankara suicide blasts specifically to the HDP.

Demirtaş said 36 HDP officials lost their lives in the attacks, two of whom were deputy candidates for the upcoming Nov. 1 snap election.

“Large numbers of party and union members lost their lives there. We did not discriminate. All we say is that ‘the state is directly responsible for this massacre,’” he said.

Demirtaş’s statement came after Davutoğlu criticized Gül over the latter’s addressing of his condolence message for the Ankara bombing to the HDP. 

“Extending condolences only to the HDP means identifying all our citizens who lost their lives with the HDP,” the prime minister said.