Erdogan blasts West as Kurdish party boycotts parliament

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused Europe of abetting terrorism by supporting Kurdish militants, saying he did not care if the West called him a dictator.

Turkey drew international condemnation for the arrest on Friday of leaders and lawmakers from the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), the second-largest opposition grouping in parliament, as part of a terrorism investigation.

The government accuses the HDP, which made history last year by becoming the first Kurdish party to win 10 per cent of the vote and enter parliament, of financing and supporting an armed Kurdish insurgency, which it denies.

The HDP announced a partial boycott of parliament on Sunday, saying it was “halting its legislative efforts” and that its deputies would stop participating in sessions of the legislature or meetings of parliamentary commissions.

“After discussions with our parliamentary group and our central executive board, we have decided to halt our legislative efforts in light of everything that has happened,” HDP spokesman Ayhan Bilgen said in a statement read out in front of the party’s offices in Diyarbakir and broadcast online.

HDP officials would consult with the party’s supporters, many of whom are in the largely Kurdish southeast, and could then consider a full withdrawal from parliament, he said.

The action against the HDP has heightened concern among western allies about the state of democracy in Turkey. More than 110,000 officials – from soldiers and judges to teachers and journalists – have been detained or suspended since a failed military coup in July.

What my people call me

“I don’t care if they call me dictator or whatever else, it goes in one ear, out the other. What matters is what my people call me,” Mr Erdogan said in a speech at an Istanbul university, where he was receiving an honorary doctorate.

Mr Erdogan and the government is furious at what it sees as western criticism of its fight against the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group, which has waged a three-decade insurgency for Kurdish autonomy and whose allied groups in Syria enjoy US support in the fight against Islamic State.

“Europe, as a whole, is abetting terrorism. Even though they declared the PKK a terrorist organisation, this is clear,” Mr Erdogan said. “We see how the PKK can act so freely and comfortably in Europe.”

HDP co-leaders Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag were jailed pending trial on Friday after refusing to give testimony in an investigation linked to "terrorist propaganda". Ten other HDP lawmakers were also detained, though some were later released .

The United States expressed deep concern, while Germany and Denmark summoned Turkish diplomats over the Kurdish arrests. European Parliament president Martin Schulz said the actions "call into question the basis for the sustainable relationship between the EU and Turkey".

– (Reuters)