Turkey’s Interior Minister to Kurdish Lawmaker: You Have No Right to Live

Pro-Kurdish People’s Democracy Party (HDP) co-chair Pervin Buldan said she was threatened by Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu after the killing of an election monitor in the eastern province of Agri on the election day.

An official representing ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) for the election monitoring was found dead after being shot.

The authorities placed the blame on outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) for the killing.

During a press conference on Wednesday, Buldan divulged the details with media of her phone conversation with Interior Miniter Soylu.

She said the minister builds a direct link between the killing of AKP official and HDP.

Buldan says the minister even threatened her and told her: “You no longer have the right to live…You are responsible for this incident. And “go wherever you want.”

Buldan expressed dismay over the language used by Turkey’s interior minister who is responsible for internal security and oversees the national police and gendarmerie forces.

“This country cannot be ruled by anger,” she noted.

The pro-Kurdish party managed to pass the 10 percent electoral threshold despite all the efforts of the government to block its entry to Parliament.

The HDP’s presidential candidate Selahattin Demirtas who campaigned from his prison cell praised his party fellows for passing the threshold. He described HDP’s performance as partial success but a significant one.

The HDP got 67 seats out of 600-seat Parliament and became the third largest party in the legislative body after ruling AKP and main opposition Republican People’s Party (HDP).