7 November 2020 - 08:59

Turkey wants HDP to be led by extremist Kurds: researcher

<p style="text-align: left;">A Turkey affairs analyst, Onur Alp Yilmaz, says that by arresting the moderate Kurdish politicians of the People's Democratic Party (HDP), the Turkish government wants to make the pro-Kurdish party to fall into the hands of the extremist Kurds and thus the party will be marginalized.

Dr. Onur Alp Yilmaz told Balkan Insight about the mass arrests of HDP politicians that the ruling coalition, including the Justice and Development Party (AK Party), is concerned about the political and economic challenges it is facing.

He added that the government wants to prevent alliances between the opposition, including an alliance with the pro-Kurdish HDP. The government also links the HDP to terrorism and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

The expert on Kurdish issues said about the reason behind the increase in arresting HDP leaders and members that: "The government wants to imprison the moderate people of this party and thus hand over the leadership of the party to the extremist Kurds in order to isolate it."

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