Turkish Deputy PM: Demirta? under PKK 'tutelage'

Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Yalç?n Akdo?an has said Peoples? Democratic Party?s (HDP) Co-Chair Selahattin Demirta? is under the direct ?tutelage? of Cemil Bay?k, a senior leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers? Party (PKK). 

?Selahattin Demirta? delivers fancy remarks but there is a Cemil Bay?k in him. That is, he is acting under Cemil Bay?k?s tutelage. The HDP has been able to move certain places by his [Bay?k?s] instructions, statements and routes,? Akdo?an said.

The government-led Kurdish peace process, which aims to end the three-decade long conflict between Turkey?s security forces and the PKK, has not been suspended, Akdo?an said on April 22. ?The HDP should make an open call to the PKK to lay down their arms, in order to display that it favors a disarmament solution.?

In a live interview, Akdo?an continued, ?Let?s further strengthen it [democratic politics], hand-in-hand?we are able to speak and say everything in parliament too. Can he [Demirta?] say ?We don?t accept a method that ends people?s lives and the PKK should stop this?? No, he cannot.?

Bay?k, co-chair of the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK), a supra organization that includes the PKK, is based at the PKK headquarters in the Kandil Mountains of northern Iraq. 

Akdo?an said even with a resolution to the Kurdish issue, the fight would continue ?against this Marxist-Leninist ideology and mentality, which seeks to be the CHP [the main opposition social democrat Republican People?s Party] of the Kurds and which, in no way, abandons arms?because we cannot leave the Kurds in their [the HDP?s] captivity.?

As a key figure involved in the peace process, Akdo?an has frequently criticized the HDP, a stakeholder in the process. His latest remarks came a...