Turkish Security Forces Fire Tear Gas on Protesters in Kurdish Southeast
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Turkish security forces fired tear gas at protesters in the mainly Kurdish southeastern city of Diyarbakir on Sunday as they demonstrated against the results of a general election.
Dozens of protesters, some throwing stones, blocked a road near the center of the largest city in the southeast after partial election results showed support for the pro-Kurdish opposition falling perilously close to the 10 percent threshold needed to enter parliament, Reuters reported.
Security had been tight all day in the restive southeast, with some voting in the shadow of armored police vehicles.
The Justice and Development Party (AK Party) is set to lead Turkey alone once again after a five-month break, easily regaining its parliamentary majority in what Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu called a victory for democracy.
With nearly all of the votes counted, the ruling party was leading Sunday's general elections with 49.4 percent of the vote.
The AK Party was followed by the centre-left Republican People's Party (CHP) with 25.4 of the votes, far-right Nationalist Action Party (MHP) with 11.9 percent and the pro-Kurdish left-wing Peoples' Demcoratic Party (HDP) with 10.7 percent.
With these results, AK Party is predicted to claim 316 seats in the 550-seat parliament, easily enough to win majority government on its own.
It was chased by the CHP with 134 seats, HDP with 59 seats and MHP with 41 seats. Parties need to secure 276 seats to govern the country alone.
Addressing AK Party supporters in his hometown Konya as the results became clear, prime minister and AK Party leader, Ahmet Davutoglu, said that all 78 million people of Turkey would be embraced, whether or not they voted for the party.
