Public increasingly distrustful of HDP’s stance on terror, will punish the party in early elections, shows survey

Having based its main pre-election strategy on being a uniting political party advocating for peace, the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) has yet to fulfill its promises following a series of conflicting statements in favor of the PKK terrorist organization, leaving some of its voters displeased. As the four parties in Parliament continue to hold round of coalition talks amid the attacks in the country, according to a recent survey conducted by the Ankara-based Objective Research Center (ORC), in the event of early elections, votes for the HDP would decrease to 10.9 percent. As conflicting and statements continue to come from the party's leading figures, some HDP voters and others feel more and more discontent.

In March, HDP Co-Chair Selahattin Demirtaş assertively presented his party as the one and only way to create a calm and peaceful environment in the country by way of dealing with the PKK, having said: "It is not the AK Party [Justice and Development Party], but the HDP that can make the PKK lay down arms."

Demirtaş left some confused, however, with a conflicting statement after the HDP passed the 10 percent election threshold in the June 7 elections four months later when he said: "We cannot make the PKK lay down arms."

More than 2,000 acts of violence by the PKK have been recorded since the beginning of 2015, including armed attacks on police and civilians, including nearly 200 bomb attacks. Such acts of violence occurred during the cease-fire between the PKK and the state. Demirtaş sought to receive votes from those who were fed up with the continuing terror of the PKK, claiming that his party could help put an end to it.Demirtaş was not the only member of the HDP who declared the party embraced peace. HDP Gaziantep Deputy Celal Doğan, a former mayor of Gaziantep, said in April that he joined the HDP in order to contribute to the peace and brotherhood project in Turkey. Moreover, he seemed quite confident of his new party, asserting: "If guns are directed at the Turkish state or Army, I am out."

After the PKK accelerated its attacks in Turkey, it has been argued whether Doğan would resign. He broke his silence on Tuesday, saying: "Looking at the way the party conducts itself, it is on the side of peace. For this reason, nothing has changed in my mind." This was interpreted by some as a new addition to the series of conflicting statements and acts from the HDP.

In the meantime, HDP Deputy Abdullah Zeydan on Monday said that the PKK would "drown Turkey in its spit," which drew heavy criticism.