Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) MP candidate for Batman, Feleknas Uca told ANHA that the Suruç massacre was a pre-election provocation aimed at scaring people and that to increase vote the AKP is attacking Qandil.

HDP candidate for Batman Feleknas Uca pointed out at the importance of these elections, both parliamentary and presidential and at the fact that they are being carried out under Emergency Law.

She reminded that the HDP presidential candidate, Selahattin Demirtaş, “is being held hostage in prison and is running his electoral campaign from within his cell’s four walls. During the electoral campaign the attacks against the HDP have increased”.

Uca portrayed the current situation in which 11 HDP deputies have been stripped of their impunity, 9 HDP deputies are in prison and thousands of party executives and members have been arrested in the past year.

HDP will determine the future of Turkey

Following the coup of 15 July 2016, said Uca, President Erdoğan seized the opportunity and turned the country into a big open prison: attacks on the Kurdish people increased, Kurds were massacred and their cities destroyed. Hundreds of thousands of people were forced to migrate.

“This is the portrait - said Uca - of the environment in which we are currently running our election campaign. Add to that the 10 percent threshold we have to overcome in order to enter parliament. The Turkish state is attacking the HDP because they know the people will vote for the HDP.”

If the HDP overcomes the threshold, Uca said, “the AKP will lose its power and the system Erdoğan wants to establish could actually not happen."

Uca drew attention to the alliances made by Erdoğan and said: “Erdoğan has made alliances with people like the MHP, former PM Tansu Ciller and former minister Mehmet Ağar. Against this alliance, we chose to ally with the people. For this reason, these elections are actually about making people accountable for what they did.”

24 June is decision day

Uca stated that 24 June is decision day: “Either we strengthen our alliance for the freedom of the peoples and democracy, or we will end up with the one-man regime which will go against peoples. The one-man regime will increase attacks and massacres. For this reason, - Uca added - when our people go to the polls, they should remember the massacres perpetrated by this government. Should the HDP win, the country will have freedom. Otherwise, we will go towards dictatorship.”

Invading Qandil to get more votes

Uca underlined that provocations like Suruç show the AKP is under pressure.

“The Turkish state - she said - has now turned to Qandil. AKP is increasing its operations and threats against Qandil in the hope to get nationalist votes. These politics however are not successful. Which is why, no matter what they do, they will be taken to account on 24 June.”

Suruç was an AKP provocation

HDP Batman candidate Feleknas Uca ended her remarks talking about the massacre in Suruç. “Autopsy reports - she said - exposed the magnitude of the brutality. No country has ever witnessed such a brutality. One man was actually killed before the eyes of the police in a hospital in Turkey. Nobody intervened. In many places, the governors are actually openly canvassing for the AKP. This shows that the AKP is under pressure and got the whole system working for it.”