Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has accused the People's Democracy Party, or HDP, of hypocrisy over its election rhetoric.
“Selahattin Demirtaş is not creating a realistic policy. They do not exist as they are and they are not as they appear. They have had an identity crisis," Davutoğlu said, speaking to Yeni Şafak's reporter after his rallies in the southern parts of the country.
“Let them bring their respect they show to religion to their rallies in the West. They are using a different language in the West for the left-leaning, marginal and Marxist crowds that they are appealing to in these regions, so they will not be alienated."
According to Davutoğlu, the pro-Kurdish party's officials have always thought somewhere in the back of their minds that a national identity cannot be formed without challenging the religion.
“This is where we differ from each other. We consider the faith as the yeast of the people, while they suggest a national identity cannot be established on the religious basis," he explained.
Davutoğlu also lashed out at Demirtaş for entirely remaining silent against his supporters' booing the Department of Religious Affairs during an election rally in the eastern province of Elazığ earlier this month.
“To lead the booing of the Religious Affair's head is the greatest rudeness that a man can do, because it is a department which every citizen in Turkey must show respect for. In this manner, they are being unmasked, which reveals their true color. This is not rhetoric which is supported by the people. Nothing can be sustainable if it is not backed by the people," he said.
The Kurdish party's supporters booed the Department of Religious Affairs after Demirtaş recalled that a Kurdish version of the holy Qoran was rejected by to the department of Religious Affairs in 1992. The Kurdish leader responded with a smile to the crowd's "booing" protest.
In his speech, Demirtaş has referred to the refusal of a move by a Muslim cleric of Kurdish origin, widely known as Mele, to offer a copy of the Kurdish version of the holy Qoran to publish for Kurdish believers, who did not know how to write and read the Turkish language in 1992, by apparently ignoring that even speaking the Kurdish language was forbidden in this era.
