Turkey: Pro-Kurdish party says the visit by the ruling party was “out of the blue”

A visit by the ruling AKP (Justice and Development Party) to the pro-Kurdish HDP (Peoples’ Democratic Party) was unexpected, and the AKP delegation turned up out of the blue, an HDP deputy said on Thursday. 

Tayyip Temel said that the group vice presidents of HDP were informed about the visit just a few hours ago, and that it was a surprise for them as well.

Last week, a delegation including Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag and AKP group deputy chair Mustafa Elitas visited opposition parties including the HDP to discuss the new constitutional amendment that the ruling AKP is preparing on headscarf and family issues in a move that surprised the political circles as AKP denied the very existence of HDP in the parliament saying it has connections with the PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party)

Furthermore, Devlet Bahceli, the leader of the MHP (Nationalist Movement Party,) the small partner of the ruling bloc approved of the visit, saying it was “natural and a right step to take.”

According to Temel, the reason behind the visit was that the government was losing its social support.

“The AKP has been hostile to the Kurds for the last five years. This is also an attempt to conceal this policy of hostility,” he said in an interview with journalist Ismail Saymaz from Halk TV.

Temel also criticized the opposition. 

While commenting on the visit on Wednesday, nationalistic opposition leader of Good Party Meral Aksener claimed the AKP and HDP acted in “unison against the republic.”

“The Good Party met with the same AKP delegation five minutes after us, but Aksener says HDP is acting with AKP. She says the HDP is doing a great disgrace. The opposition is in a terrible state of inconsistency,” Temel said.