Pro-Kurd party accuses Erdogan of trying to sow discord

CAIRO – 22 June 2019: Leaders of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) have accused Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan of trying to sow discord among Kurds ahead of a re-run of an Istanbul election on Sunday.

The HDP also reaffirmed its support for opposition mayoral candidate Ekrem Imamoglu who won the March municipal poll.

Election authorities ordered a re-run after AKP allegations of poll irregularities, a ruling that has prompted concerns about Turkish democracy.

In an unexpected and ambiguously worded statement, Kurdish militant leader Abdullah Ocalan called for “neutrality” in the Istanbul vote, in comments that could be understood as suggesting Kurds not take part.

Kurdish support was key in helping Imamoglu narrowly defeat the AKP mayoral candidate Binali Yildirim in the March vote. Kurdish voters account for about 15 percent of Istanbul’s 10.5 million eligible voters and many support the HDP.

Just after state-run Anadolu agency released details of Ocalan’s hand-written letter late on Thursday, Erdogan speculated in a TV interview that the statement pointed to a “serious power struggle” among senior Kurdish leaders. The HDP’s co-leaders Pervin Buldan and Sezai Temelli responded angrily to Erdogan’s intervention.

“The effort by President Erdogan to set our party and Mr. Ocalan against each other through a text leaked in an unethical way shows ... how desperate he has become,” they said.