HDP responds to AKP’s ‘assassination attempt’ with ‘suicide’ metaphor

ANKARA

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The government’s unwillingness to share authorities is tantamount to “suicide,” an executive of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) has suggested amid heated debates over his party’s support for greater Kurdish self-governance.

Autonomy is not an attempt to divide the country but a quest to find a new formula to live together, HDP spokesman Ayhan Bilgen said Dec. 30, adding that the model was currently being implemented around the world.

“We are telling those who labeled the proposal as ‘murder’ that it would be suicide if you don’t share authorities. For a political power which is so strongly inclined toward suicide, assassination is not a big deal. Political powers, which purposefully refuse to change themselves and which hide behind a discourse that legitimizes the status quo when they are unable to change, take the country to suicide regardless,” Bilgen said.

The remarks came after a senior executive of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) suggested that the recent call for self-governance supported by the HDP was “a political assassination attempt” targeting law, order and societal peace in Turkey.

AKP spokesperson Ömer Çelik also said members of political parties should pay the price if they are against the legitimate political order, even while underlining that his party was against the closing of political parties in principle.

“From our side, if the recent process is a mechanism of oppression, intimidation and terrorization, we know what we are defending and for what reason we are defending it. There is no need to be afraid of discussions. On the contrary, if the country discusses these kinds of quests more widely and more courageously in a way that does not provide an opportunity for violence, then the country will strengthen its will to live together that much more,” Bilgen said.

In regards to comments suggesting that the parliamentary immunity of HDP deputies could be lifted and that the party could be closed down, Bilgen said they had never considered immunity as an “armor” while engaging in politics.

“There is a will which doesn’t rush and delays the mechanism when the issue is corruption. If politicians are subjected to bans and punishments for displaying a political approach and for making a proposal, then this would be a shame for Turkey, but not for us,” he said, adding that similar incidents in the past harmed Turkey’s reputation, resulting in “losses for Turkey.”

“We hope that new mistakes that would cause Turkey to lose again and which will disappoint the hopes and will to build a joint future will not be made,” he said.