Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Saturday that he perceives pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) co-chairman Selahattin Demirtaş to be a terrorist.
Speaking after the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, Erdoğan accused Demirtaş of pitting Kurds against each other'
"Turkey is a state of law. The person you mentioned [Selahattin Demirtaş] is a terrorist. He is such a terrorist that he made all my Kurdish brothers take to the streets and then got these 53 Kurdish brothers murdered by some other Kurds. This is only one of the crimes he committed. There are many other similar ones," Erdoğan said. He refers to the “2014 Kobani protests,” large-scale protests by Kurds in Turkey.
"HISTORY WILL TELL WHO THE TERRORIST IS"
HDP released a statement and underlined that Demirtaş is not a terrorist but the co-chair of the HDP and he represents the will of millions.
"With his statement, Erdoğan clearly intervenes in proceedings and the judiciary, and he is, in effect, dictating the verdict. At the same time, he is openly threatening the Constitutional Court of Turkey," HDP also said in the statement.
"It is in no way acceptable for a President to give speeches in this tone. We condemn and protest this statement by Erdoğan in the strongest manner possible. History will tell who the terrorist is," it said.
