FM Çavuşoğlu says PKK threatens Kurds, Alevis living abroad, urging to vote for HDP

As discussions about the possibility of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party's (HDP) passing the 10 percent election threshold continues, the HDP aims to increase its vote by receiving support not only from the PKK, but also from extreme leftist terror organizations like the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C) and the Turkish People's Liberation Party-Front (THKP-C). While the PKK is alleged to send letters to locals threatening them not to vote for the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) in the upcoming June 7 general elections, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu has claimed that citizens living abroad are being threatened throughout Europe by the PKK.

Following a meeting with Turkish citizens living in Netherlands on Tuesday, Çavuşoğlu spoke to members of the press and emphasized the threats that the PKK is spreading not only in southeastern Turkey, but also throughout Europe. Çavuşoğlu said: "In efforts to disturb and affect the election process in Europe, citizens of Kurdish and Alevi backgrounds especially are under strong duress by the PKK. Many Turkish citizens are also unable to vote with their free will due to the threats." While the PKK has intensified its pressure on locals in eastern provinces to vote for the HDP, which is vying to pass the 10 percent election threshold to enter Parliament as a party, Mihraç Ural, a top militant from the THKP-C, a predecessor of the DHKP-C, and the alleged mastermind of the car bombings in Hatay in 2013, also released a statement demanding support for the HDP. The threatening letters sent by the PKK to those who meet with or host AK Party officials in their homes, reportedly say: "If anyone in your family votes for the AK Party or other parties, you will face harsh consequences."

The PKK's imprisoned leader, Abdullah Öcalan, made a much anticipated call for disarmament on Nevruz. Öcalan's message, which called for the PKK to hold a congress and lay down its arms, was seen as a key step toward reaching a permanent resolution to Turkey's decades-old Kurdish issue. Let alone leaving behind arms, the PKK keeps igniting aggression in eastern provinces, as HDP Co-Chair Selahattin Demirtaş's democratic rhetoric continues to appeal to voters in western Turkey as well those in the east. Commenting Demirtaş's stance throughout the election campaign and the reconciliation process, Deputy Prime Minister Yalçın Akdoğan, a Cabinet member who regularly holds talks with the HDP on the Kurdish question, said on Tuesday that Demirtaş has carried out all kinds of sabotage in order to prevent a successful conclusion to or resolution of the Kurdish question.

"The HDP has willingly joined that status quo bloc from the 'old Turkey' that includes the Republican Peoples Party [CHP] and the Nationalist Movement Party [MHP]," Akdoğan said, adding that Demirtaş has become the spokesperson of the 'old Turkey.' He stressed the significance of economic, political and democratic stability and added: "With the AK Party, a new constitution and the New Turkey will bring a successful resolution to the reconciliation process. The June 7 general elections are highly important in this regard."

Turkey truly believed a new page had been turned in the name of democracy when Öcalan announced in his Nevruz message that the PKK will resume its cause through democratic means and should leave behind tactics such as resorting to arms to realize their goals. He called for a congress to convene to discuss laying down arms before the elections, which did not and apparently will not happen in the near future, taking into consideration recent developments.