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HDP leaders’ arrests to increase violence in Turkey: Analyst

Saturday, 05 November 2016 5:37 PM [ Last Update: Saturday, 05 November 2016 5:39 PM ]

Riot police detain demonstrators during a protest against the arrest of pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) lawmakers, in Ankara, on November 4, 2016. (Photo by AFP)

Turkish police have arrested the two co-leaders of pro-Kurdish opposition Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) along with nine other lawmakers from the party. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly accused the HDP of being the political wing of the PKK, calling for pro-Kurdish MPs to face terrorism charges.

Bill Jones, a member of the Executive Intelligence Review, believes the arrests of the pro-Kurdish HDP party leaders is going to worsen the political turmoil in Turkey.

“It seems to me that President Erdogan is throwing dry hay on the fires that are burning within Turkey and it is no surprise that the violence has increased with these arrests,” the analyst told Press TV.

“Obviously people at this point have lost hope of democracy in Turkey but the more he [President Erdogan] goes out in this way now taking the step to arrest elected officials from the Kurdish party, he is really feeding the insurgency which he is going to be fighting until he can find a way of dealing with this internally politically and not through a brutal crackdown,” he added.

He also dismissed Erdogan’s efforts to beat the Kurds as “ridiculous”, given the fact that the Kurdish forces are playing a major role in the fight against the Daesh Takfiri terrorists.

Jones further noted the Kurdish issue in terms of some form of “autonomy and freedom of expression” within Turkey and also an acceptance of a Kurdish presence in the Middle East is in the cards now.

“Erdogan does not understand this, he has not gotten the message and I think he is not in tune with the historical development. This is no threat to Turkey if Turkey would give the Kurds the ability to express their own wishes freely within the Turkish state,” he opined.

The analyst also argued Erdogan is intending to expand Turkish territory externally on the pretext of fighting the establishment of a Kurdish state.

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