Tens of thousands protest in Turkey against Kurdish violence

Alluding to the government’s accusation that the HDP is a front for the PKK – allegations the party vehemently denies – he urged voters to vote AKP “so that peace returns to Turkey“.

Because of the Kurdish minority winning representation, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) failed to secure a majority in June 7 vote – for the first time since 2002.

Many accuse Ankara of launching its airstrikes against Daesh positions despite reports indicating that it actively supported the militants, as a pretext to attack the PKK, which has been fighting for an autonomous Kurdish region inside Turkey for decades.

On Monday evening, the HDP office in the town of Derecik in Hakkari province was set on fire, leaving much of the building heavily damaged, according to the PKK-linked Firat News Agency (ANF). At least 100 soldiers and hundreds of PKK have been killed.

The resignation of Development Minister Müslüm Doğan and EU Affairs Minister Ali Haydar Konca came during a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday and was first announced by the HDP in a statement.

Cizre, near Turkey’s borders with Syria and Iraq, has become a flashpoint in two months of deepening violence in the largely Kurdish southeast.

More than 150 security officials have been killed by Kurdish and left-wing militants since July, primarily by members of the Patriotic Revolutionary Youth Movement (YDG-H), the PKK’s youth wing. The government later announced that academic Beril Dedeoglu had been picked to replace Konca and that engineer Cuneyd Duzyol would replace Dogan.

The observation of 5,000 people between Sept.12 and Sept.13 presented the major upgrading was by the main opposition CHP at 28.1 percent, from 25 percent in June.

“If Turkey doesn’t have a Kurdish issue, then only one thing remains: There is the problem of an irresponsible president and an unauthorised prime minister”, he told reporters.

While enjoying some support among non-Kurds, the HDP is generally seen as defending Kurdish interests.