NORTH KURDISTAN (TURKEY) Erdoğan Claims Turkish Violence Result of No Single Party Securing 400 Deputies – Accusations levelled at HDP in televised address

Basnews – 07.09.2015 – ANKARA – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has used an interview with a pro-government television broadcaster to lay the blame for the country’s unrest with the People’s Democratic Party (HDP) and the failure of one party to return 400 deputies, and therefore able to change the Constitution.

The president of Turkey, a largely ceremonial role to which Erdoğan was elected in August last year, is meant to hold no party ties, but Erdoğan alluded to the Justice & Development Party (AKP) on many hustings and debates running up to the June 7th elections this year.Erdoğan advocates the rewriting of the Constitution to centralise power in the hands of the president, taking the country away from the parliamentary system.“And now we have the elections on June 7th. Are you ready to have Turkey embrace a new Constitution, the presidential system and a more powerful settlement process [to address the Kurdish issue]? Then, brothers, give us 400 deputies and let this issue be solved peacefully.”

The Turkish President has even claimed that the system has already changed, in all ways but the law, and called for the switch from parliamentary to presidential system to be finalised.Angered at his party’s inability to secure the 400 deputies needed to change the Constitution, and taking aim at the HDP which scored surprising successes at the election, Erdoğan told Sunday night’s interviewer, “How can you explain the damage caused by [ the HDP], who entered Parliament with 80 deputies more than they did when they were weaker in Parliament? You know we witnessed the Oct. 6-7-8 incidents [in 2014, sparked by Kobani protests]. We witnessed the Suruç and Diyarbakır incidents. There is no need to seek the culprit elsewhere. These are all a result of the terrorism menace put on the stage in our country. They are generating interest from terrorism. This is what they do. If a political party had been able to secure 400 deputies to make a new Constitution, the situation would be very different today.”The ceasefire between the Turkish government and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) broke down following the Islamic State (IS) attack on a group of Kurdish youth activists in Suruç on 20th July, in which 34 people died. The Ankara government vowed to tackle terrorism, focusing on the PKK and IS. Hundreds of bombs have been dropped in PKK positions by Turkish jets, whilst the PKK has attacked security forces throughout the eastern, Kurdish areas of the country.