Blasts were massacre attempt, says Turkey's HDP
Pro-Kurdish party's co-chairman says twin explosions follow more than 60 attacks during election campaign
MERSIN, Turkey
A Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) leader has described Monday’s explosions at party offices in southern Turkey as an attempted “massacre” of leading figures in the pro-Kurdish group.
Co-Chairman Selahattin Demirtas said the attacks in Mersin and Adana, in which the party said six people were injured, were part of anti-HDP violence that has seen 66 attacks on the party since campaigning for the June 7 general election began in April.
Speaking at an evening rally in Mersin, Demirtas said: “Today, such places and time were chosen in Mersin and Adana, meaning they wanted to kill our candidates and senior management.”
He added: “Today’s attacks were an attempt at a big massacre.”
The two provincial HDP headquarters were damaged when blasts rocked the premises within minutes of each other.
Demirtas said party officials gathered each morning in the offices to hold coordination meetings, saying it was a blessing no-one had been killed.
“This was done to make Kurds the enemies of Turks and Turks the enemy of Kurds,” he said.
In a statement, the HDP called for the perpetrators to be found and held responsible.
No group claimed responsibility for the attacks and police have launched investigations.
Adana provincial governor Mustafa Buyuk suggested the blast in the city’s Seyhan district was deliberate. “We are investigating the source of the blast and the type of explosive,” Buyuk told Anadolu Agency.
Mersin police chief Rahmi Bastug said the explosion happened in the kitchen of the HDP’s Mersin office.
Earlier, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told an election rally in central Karaman province that he had given orders to “make all necessary investigations to find out whoever is behind the attacks."
Davutoglu stressed the ruling Justice and Development Party would not stand for accusations against the government and the party in relation to the attacks. "We have always been against violence,” he said. "Nobody can put the blame on us."
Parliament Speaker Cemil Cicek also condemned the attacks as "provocations which aim to raise the political tension and disrupt social peace" while Deputy Prime Minister Yalcin Akdogan condemned the attack in a Twitter post, saying that provocateurs were seeking to stir violence during the election.
In an earlier statement, the HDP accused "dark forces supported by the ruling power" of trying to obstruct their election campaign.
It said "political responsibility" lay with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Davutoglu and other cabinet members who "single out” the HDP as a “target".
Erdogan’s spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said the allegations were "not acceptable” and called on the HDP to wait for clarification before making accusations.
"The attacks against any political party in Turkey are attacks carried out against all political parties in the country," Kalin said.
Gunmen attacked the HDP’s headquarters in Ankara in mid-April. Nobody was injured but bullet holes were visible on the building.
In November, the Ankara Provincial HDP Assembly Member Ahmet Karatas was critically injured after being stabbed near the party’s headquarters in Ankara.
The HDP is set to play an important role in the upcoming June 7 Turkish general election. For the first time it aims to pass the 10 percent election threshold and gain seats in parliament.
