Prominent AKP MP prefers ISIL killings to PKK

ISTANBUL

Controversial AKP deputy Emrullah İşler.

Following an avalanche of criticism on social media, a prominent member of Parliament from Turkey’s ruling party has deleted a controversial tweet that expressed his preference for jihadists over supporters of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

“What did the young man whose head was crushed do wrong? The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant [ISIL] can’t surpass those who did this to him. ISIL kills, but at least they don’t torture,” Emrullah İşler, an MP from the Justice and Development Party (AKP) and a former deputy prime minister, tweeted on Oct. 7.

The tweet was in reference to a photo of a dead young member of the Free Cause Party (Hüda-Par), who was reportedly among the people who were killed, numbering at least 22, during the violent protests against ISIL that broke out across Turkey on Oct. 7. Hüda-Par supporters, who allegedly support the Turkish Hizbullah and ISIL, claimed members of the PKK killed the man by crushing his head.

The deadliest clashes of the night took place between supporters of the PKK and the Hüda Par in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır.

“Terrorist organizations like al-Qaeda, the PKK, al-Nusra and ISIL were all invented to make Muslims kill Muslims. Unfortunately, they have been getting results for years,” İşler later tweeted, after deleting his controversial message.