Senior AKP deputy slams Erdoğan, his party over Kurdish policies: BBC

ISTANBUL

AA photo

A senior member of Parliament from Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has slammed President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his party over Kurdish policies, BBC Turkish reported Oct. 18.

The AKP deputy, who spoke to BBC correspondent Paul Moss in Istanbul on condition of anonymity, directed "harsh criticism" at Erdoğan and the AKP, according to the report. 

"It is very hard to understand why the government decided to attack the PKK. President Erdoğan is focused on increasing his votes, not to solve the Kurdish problem. I believe that the peace process may soon collapse and this would drive the country into chaos," the AKP MP reportedly said.



Hürriyet had reported that Turkish fighter jets bombarded positions of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) late Oct. 13, following militant attacks on military outposts in southeastern Turkey, in a first since the start of the peace process. 

Many provinces in Turkey’s east, as well as the largest cities of the country, saw violent protests against the government’s policies over the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant’s (ISIL) advance on the Syrian border town of Kobane. Some 37 people were killed and hundreds were injured in the demonstrations. 

The Kobane protests were seen by many observers as a potential risk for the peace process that the government started in 2013 to solve Turkey's Kurdish problem.

İbrahim Yıldırım, who worked at the AKP's Istanbul branch, on the other hand, supported the government's decision to attack the PKK following the protests. "The PKK is still a terrorist organization. Thanks God none of our soldiers were killed, but they were targeted in terrorist attacks. Our Air Force didn't plan the airstrike out of the blue," he said, according to the BBC Turkish report.