Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has criticized the PKK leadership in northern Iraq's Qandil Mountains, which President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan alleges is being backed by the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democracy Party (HDP), for speaking on behalf of and even instead of the HDP.
"It is no longer [HDP Co-Chair Selahattin] Demirtaş who speaks, but those in the Qandil Mountains. They say: 'I will determine and assign with whom we will form a coalition.' It also issues threats," Davutoğlu said. "Then we say: 'The vote cast for the HDP is one for the PKK and Qandil,'" he added. Davutoğlu said opposition parties are acting in unison ahead of Sunday's parliamentary election as they regard the polls as the last chance to prevent another term under his Justice and Development Party's (AK Party) rule, and the development of Turkey.
In a late night live interview jointly broadcast on private Ülke TV and Kanal 7 on Thursday, the prime minister stressed that the pre-election period in Turkey has witnessed a union of political fractions that have so far never been completely dissimilar. "Disparate siblings have lined up against the AK Party in this election," he said.
Davutoğlu and Erdoğan have accused opposition parties of forming a "dirty alliance," claiming they are hand-in-glove with the Gülen Movement, allegedly steered by U.S.-based imam Fetullah Gülen, the terrorist organization PKK, and the Armenian diaspora in their alleged attempts to divide Turkey.
Davutoğlu argued that the opposition has been engaged in "storing up" efforts against his ruling party since the onset of the Gezi Park protests in the summer of 2013.
What began as an environmental issue, with concerned Istanbulites numbering in the dozens occupying the central Gezi Park to prevent the removal of trees, soon mushroomed into a nationwide wave of protests against the AK Party government two years ago.
Turkish authorities later claimed the demonstrations were a coup attempt perpetrated by the Gülen Movement embedded in the country's institutions. "They say now or never as there will be no elections until 2019, a key period of four years to sustain stability," Davutoğlu said.
