Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Co-Chair Selahattin Demirtaş threatened party members who did not attend the funeral ceremony of a terrorist and launched an investigation into it on the grounds of party discipline. Demirtaş's remarks sparked controversy as he explicitly threatened his own party members with launching an internal investigation unless they attended the funeral ceremony of a terrorist. Calling terrorists and their families HDP voters, Demirtaş came to the defense of some HDP deputies who attended the funerals of terrorists. "A deputy from our party can get lynched because he or she attended the funeral ceremony of a PKK member. They are our voters."Criticizing media outlets that wrote a story about it as "a deputy at the funeral ceremony of a PKK terrorist," Demirtaş, who has not abstained from siding with the PKK with his remarks, blatantly called on party members to attend the terrorists' funerals.Drawing heavy criticism due to the failure of the HDP to distance itself from the PKK and terrorists, the HDP co-chair once more came under fire for his remarks that tied the HDP to the terrorist organization.However, slammed by some for having close ties with the PKK, Demirtaş last week in Germany gave an interview to a German daily. In the interview, when asked about whether the HDP is the political wing of the PKK, he claimed that the PKK does not represent the HDP.Known for his contradictory statements in the western and eastern parts of Turkey, Demirtaş called on his fellow deputies to attend the funeral ceremonies of PKK terrorists.Opting to keep silent over PKK attacks on security forces and civilians, Demirtaş has never come close to condemning the PKK, which is spreading terror across the country. In August HDP co-spokesman and İzmir Deputy Ertuğrul Kürkçü, stressed that PKK terror attacks on Turkish security forces are not "a matter of condemnation." Seeking to garner votes in the western parts of Turkey and balance the situation in the east, HDP deputies in late September attended the so-called assembly of the PKK's Syrian wing Democratic Union Party (PYD).As Turkey nears the Nov. 1 elections, it remains a question whether the HDP will continue its balanced strategy while giving contradictory remarks in the east and west of Turkey.