Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu criticized the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) on Saturday for cooperating with the pro-PKK Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) for the March 31 local elections.

"Instead of [aligning with] the nation, the CHP preferred [to cooperate with] the HDP and the PKK, who betrayed this country," Çavuşoğlu said, while speaking at an event in Antalya's Muratpaşa district.

The HDP announced previously that it would not nominate mayoral candidates in seven major municipalities, including Istanbul, Izmir and Ankara, in the upcoming municipal elections. The decision raised questions about a possible secret alliance between the CHP and the HDP, despite both parties refuting the claims that they had formed an alliance.

Speaking at an event in Turkey's southern border province of Hatay, Justice and Development Party (AK Party) Deputy Chair Numan Kurtulmuş also said on Saturday that the cooperation of the CHP and HDP in the June 24 presidential and parliamentarian elections was a veiled alliance, adding the "veil has disappeared" for the March 31 elections and has become a clear collaboration.

Rejecting the allegations over the alliance with the HDP, CHP Group Vice Chairman Özgür Özel said on Sunday that they seek to win the total votes in the elections, adding the CHP has not made any official explanations about a possible alliance with the HDP, "which is an officially formed party."

The HDP has long been accused of being a political wing of the PKK. In September 2018, former HDP Chairman Selahattin Demirtaş was sentenced to four years and eight months in prison for spreading terrorist propaganda.