Bese Hozat, a senior figure in the PKK terrorist organization suggested that the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) passed the 10 percent election threshold last Sunday thanks to its activities in Turkey's southeast.
Claiming that the HDP was not powerful enough to rebuff the policies of the Justice and Development Party (AK Party), Hozat said: "Ultimately, the result achieved by the HDP is not enough."
HDP members had made remarks considered controversial in relation to the PKK and its Syrian-affiliate Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its armed People's Protection Units (YPG). The HDP received 13 percent of the vote in the June 7 elections, lost around 1 million votes on Nov. 1 to the AK Party, which won 49.4 percent of the vote. Some have suggested that this loss was due to the HDP's inability to convince the PKK to disarm. People in Kurdish-majority southeastern provinces have grown weary of the PKK's activities, which include digging ditches, using human shields, detonating bombs, suicide bombings and kidnapping children to recruit to the organization.
