PM hits out at HDP head over Ankara blasts remarks

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davuto?lu has ramped up the rhetoric against Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) co-chair Selahattin Demirta?, saying he should "look in the mirror" if he wants to see a murderer, referring to Demirta?'s chanting of "murderer state" after the deadly Oct. 10 Ankara bombing.

"The leader [of the HDP], who today tries to present himself as an icon of democracy, provoked the masses to hit the streets in the Kobane protests. Fifty of our citizens lost their lives in those incidents, but now he shouts 'murderer state' at rallies, when the funerals of the Ankara bombing victims are still being held one after the other. If he wants to see a murderer, he should look in the mirror," Davuto?lu said at a rally in the Black Sea province of Trabzon on Oct. 19.

Demirta? has long been accused both by President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an and Justice and Development Party (AKP) officials of provoking the protests that erupted against the Ankara's perceived inaction toward the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant's (ISIL) siege of the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobane in late 2014. 

Deadly protests erupted in cities across southeastern Turkey during last year's Eid al-Adha holiday after ISIL militants entered parts of Kobane on Oct. 6, 2014, leaving at least 40 dead.

Speaking in Trabzon, Davuto?lu also criticized Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli on his attitude on counterterrorism.

"Dear Bahçeli left us alone in fighting terrorism. He said 'no' to the will of the peoples of Turkey," the prime minister said, slamming the MHP for its reluctance to engage in coalition negotiations after the June 7 election.

Meanwhile, HDP co-chair Demirta? has responded to other remarks made by Davuto?lu that...