What do attacks on Turkey's pro-Kurdish party mean?
Simultaneous bombing attacks against the pro-Kurdish People's Democracy Party show that Turkey may be heading toward a wild finish in key June 7 parliamentary elections.
As Turkey's fateful June 7 election approaches, harassment of the pro-Kurdish People's Democracy Party (HDP) — the “wild card” in the elections — has escalated. At the end of last week, social media reported that 122 attacks had targeted HDP election offices and bureaus in 60 of Turkey's 81 provinces, or three-fourths of the country.
The digital news platform Diken published what it called “The Map of Shame" showing where the HDP has been targeted.
The harassment reached its most dangerous level at the beginning of this week. On May 18, simultaneous bomb attacks hit the party’s bureaus in the Mediterranean cities of Adana and Mersin. Adana is the fourth-largest city in Turkey and Mersin is among the top 10; both have large Kurdish populations.
The bombs devastated HDP offices and wounded three people, one seriously. The Mersin incident miraculously spared the life of the highly popular chairman of the party, Selahattin Demirtas, and other officials as the explosion went off a few minutes before Demirtas' expected arrival. It could therefore be interpreted as an attempt on Demirtas' life.
