Turkish President slams Kurdish demands to self-rule

ANKARA, Turkey (K24) - Turkey's President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, accused Selahattin Demirtas, Co-chair of the pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party (HDP) of treachery over the latter's earlier remarks on Kurdish self-rule.

"Benefiting from the state of affairs, political extensions of the divisive organisation [Kurdistan Workers' Party-PKK] have now let the cat out of the bag. What this co-chairperson [Demirtas] is doing is clearly and manifestly a provocation and treachery," said an irate Turkish President at a press conference in the Turkish capital of Ankara prior to embarking on an official visit to Saudi Arabia.

"How dare you [Demirtas] talk about founding a state in our Eastern and Southeastern regions!" added Erdogan.

Demirtas said last Sunday at a major meeting in Diyarbakir held by the Democratic Society Congress (DTK), an umbrella of HDP-aligned political parties and civic organisations, "there will be a [reality of] Kurdistan in the next century. It will have autonomous regions, federal regions... and it may have an independent state."

The Turkish President expressed support for an investigation, launched due to the controversial remarks made by the Kurdish leader and further said. “neither the organisation [Kurdistan Workers' Party] nor its puppets [HDP] will get away with [punishment]. I believe these networks of treachery will learn their lesson from our nation and law."

"The [HDP] co-chair must have been encouraged by words whispered into his ears during [his] visit to Russia, to speak [with such delusion] " added Erdogan, pointing the finger at Russia whose Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sergey Lavrov, met last week with Demirtas in Moscow.

Erdogan claimed that the PKK wanted to extend its affiliates' success -the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) - into Turkey and swore that "we will not allow this happen."