Turkish PM accuses HDP co-chair of 'treason' for remarks in Moscow charging Turkey

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davuto?lu has reprimanded both the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) and the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) for allegedly siding with other countries whenever their relations with the government of Turkey deteriorate.

"The HDP co-chair's statement delivered in Russia suggesting that 'Turkey shooting down the Russian airplane was wrong,' was exactly scandalous and exactly treason. During a process when Russian airplanes have been bombing innocent Turkmens, innocent Arabs and innocent Kurds in Azaz, Aleppo, Idlib and Bay?rbucak, running to Russia and declaring support is openly betraying the nation. This is naked carelessness," Davuto?lu said on Dec. 24, referring to HDP co-chair Selahattin Demirta?'s recent remarks.

"We criticized the actions of the government when the Russian plane was shot down," Demirta? was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies during a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that took place in Moscow on Dec. 23.

Demirta? became the first high-profile Turkish figure to visit Moscow since Turkey shot down a Russian warplane on the Turkish-Syrian border on Nov. 24. The incident sparked the biggest crisis in ties between Moscow and Ankara since the end of the Cold War and saw Moscow introduce a raft of economic sanctions against Turkey.

While recalling how the CHP sent delegations to Egypt and Syria during times of heightened tensions in their relations with Turkey, Davuto?lu also touched upon remarks reportedly delivered by a deputy of the CHP, who allegedly said Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants had delivered deadly sarin gas to Syria through Turkey.

"Unfortunately, the CHP leader [Kemal K?l?çdaro?lu] and administration hasn...