Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday accused the leader of the main Kurdish party Selahattin Demirtas of "treason" over his call for autonomy for the country's Kurdish minority. In a speech at the weekend Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) co-chairman Demirtas said that Turkey's largest ethnic minority had to decide whether to live in autonomy or "under one man's tyranny." On Monday, prosecutors opened a criminal investigation against him for crimes against the constitutional order over the remarks. "What the co-leader has done is clearly provocation, treason," Erdogan told reporters Tuesday at Istanbul airport before leaving for Saudi Arabia. "This is the time when the masks have been taken off and the real faces exposed," he said. "How dare you talk about establishing a state in the southeast and in the east within Turkey's existing unitary structure," he said, addressing Demirtas. "You cannot take such a step. Neither the national will, nor our security forces, armed forces, police, village guards allow such a thing." The charismatic 42-year-old has emerged as Erdogan's key rival over the last year, with many commentators saying he is the only politician to rival the Turkish strongman's rhetorical skills. Under party rules Demirtas shares the leadership of the HDP with a woman, Figen Yuksekdag. The Turkish government labels the HDP a political front for the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) which is designated as a terrorist organization by Ankara and its Western allies. Erdogan accused HDP politicians of being "puppets of the terrorist organization." "The will of the people is stronger than arms," the president said. "They have no faith in the parliament." Referring to the criminal investigation against Demirtas, Erdogan said: "I believe that the treachery network dealing a blow to our country's unity will learn a lesson it deserves from our people and from the law." Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu had cancelled a scheduled meeting with Demirtas planned this week to discuss constitutional reforms, chastising the party for banking on "conflict and tensions." Tensions are running high in Turkey's predominantly Kurdish southeast, which has been rocked by curfews imposed on several towns where the security forces have been battling PKK militants. The army says more than 200 PKK militants had been killed in the current campaign in the southeast which started earlier this month, including the province of Sirnak and in the mainly Kurdish city of Diyarbakir. Erdogan on Tuesday praised the security operations as "very successful" and vowed that Ankara would press ahead with the offensive.
