Party organizations and citizens apathetic during election campaign: President Erdoğan

“Both party organizations and citizens in Anatolia are apathetic, in silence. We don’t know what will be result of this apathy,” Erdoğan said late May 21 speaking in a televised interview. 

The president also said he follows election surveys, adding, “It will be an election with full of surprises until the last minute.”

Elaborating on criticisms made by the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) regarding their denied requests to visit Abdullah Öcalan, the jailed leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), Erdoğan said only the state could decide on those meetings. 

“It’s not [Kandil] Mountain that will decide on the traffic of meetings,” he said.

The president said his opening ceremonies in six provinces of southeastern Turkey had been “timid,” except Adıyaman.

“There is timidity in Batman, the same for Siirt,” he said.

People of those provinces told him they were under threat.

He accused the HDP of using the word “peace” all the time. “What peace? Is it possible to have this kind of peace?” Erdoğan asked.

Erdoğan also commented on the possibility of armed attacks emerging again if the HDP did not pass the 10 percent threshold, saying the government would do whatever was necessary to maintain the country’s security. The army and police, as well as the “nation,” will not give credence to such a threat, he said, adding that “if they intend to take such a step, they will pay heavily for it.”