Turkish President Urges Kurdish Party to Cut Ties With Militants

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) must to do everything in its power to sever its ties with the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) military group.

ANKARA (Sputnik) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) on Friday to distance itself from Kurdish militants.

The HDP entered the Turkish parliament for the first time last month after it won 80 seats in the June 7 parliamentary election. According to Turkish intelligence, the party is linked to the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) military group that is on Turkish, US and EU terrorist blacklists.

"After making it into the parliament, the HDP must to do everything in its power to sever its ties with the PKK terror group since they share an indirect link, if not a direct one," Erdogan told reporters in Ankara.

The president added that all votes in the Kurdish-dominated southeastern Turkish provinces had been cast for HDP. "This indicates that the local population was threatened with armed violence," he claimed.

Erdogan’s ruling AKP party lost its majority in the country’s legislature, while HDP came second with over 13 percent of votes. Turkish lawmakers are working against the clock to form a coalition government or have fresh elections called by the president.