Twin Blasts Rock Offices of Turkey's Kurdish Party
Twin bomb attacks on Monday hit the regional headquarters of Turkey's main pro-Kurdish party in two cities, injuring more than half a dozen people and escalating tensions ahead of June 7 legislative elections.
Six people were injured in the blast at the office of the People's Democratic Party (HDP) in the southern city of Adana caused by a suspect parcel, three of them seriously, a party official told AFP.
A bouquet of flowers sent to the party's office in the nearby city of Mersin also exploded, the official said. Video footage showed several people with bloodied faces.
The HDP's co-chairman Selahattin Demirtas was due to address a rally in Mersin on Monday evening and the party said there was no suggestion of him canceling the event.
The government immediately condemned the bombings, with Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu pledging to bring the perpetrators to justice.
"I strongly condemn this attack," Davutoglu told a rally in the city of Karaman in central Turkey.
Davutoglu said he gave a "clear instruction" for a full-scale investigation. But he warned against any smear campaign to discredit his ruling party after some HDP figures blamed the government for the attacks.
"We have stood against violence since the very beginning. God willing, we will march into June 7 in peace," he said.
But in a public rally in the Black Sea city of Samsun, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan lambasted the HDP for its links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) which has waged an armed insurgency in the southeast for Kurdish autonomy.
He urged voters to steer clear of the party in the polls.
"I am appealing to all of Turkey: Turks, Kurds, Arabs, Circassians, Abkhazians -- whoever comes to mind -- will 78 million of you give the right response to the political organization that is guided by a terrorist group?" he said.
His spokesman Ibrahim Kalin strongly denounced the explosions and dismissed accusations targeting the government as "unacceptable."
- 'Some people got scared' -
The attacks were the latest in a string of violence against HDP targets in the run-up to an increasingly tense election.
In April, unidentified assailants opened fire on the HDP headquarters in the capital Ankara, with no casualties. The government condemned that attack as a blow to Turkey's democracy and stability.
The HDP is seeking in the election to clear the 10 percent quota to take seats in the parliament.
Its success could dent the ruling AKP party's plans to reach a thumping majority in the 550-seat parliament in order to change the constitution and create a presidential system.
Deputy Prime Minister Yalcin Akdogan said this month it would be "super" if the pro-Kurdish HDP failed to clear the 10 percent threshold.
Dengir Mir Mehmet Firat, a former AKP politician and currently the HDP's candidate for Mersin, put the blame on the government for the latest blasts.
"The prospect of the HDP clearing the threshold on the horizon scares some (people). The government which rules the state must be behind all this," he said in comments published in Turkish media.
"We will not succumb to provocation," he added.
Seventy-three attacks have targeted the HDP offices throughout Turkey since April, according to a party report sent to AFP.
Erdogan, who has dominated Turkey for over a decade as premier and now president, has appealed to his supporters to help elect 400 AKP lawmakers in June's vote, giving him the backing to rewrite the constitution -- and assume full executive powers himself.
The HDP lodged an unsuccessful complaint to Turkey's higher electoral body accusing Erdogan of violating constitutional neutrality with public speeches in favor of the AKP party he co-founded.
Source: Agence France Presse
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