What do attacks on Turkey's pro-Kurdish party mean?

Cengiz Candar

May 19, 2015

Supporters of pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) shout slogans during a protest against attacks on their party offices, in central Istanbul, Turkey, May 18, 2015. Simultaneous bomb blasts hit the offices of the pro-Kurdish party in two cities in southern Turkey on Monday, three weeks before a parliamentary election, attacks which a party leader blamed on President Tayyip Erdogan. HDP officials said the blasts were the latest in a string of some 60 assaults against the party in the run-up to polling — Supporters of the pro-Kurdish People's Democracy Party shout slogans during a protest against attacks on their party offices, in central Istanbul, May 18, 2015. — REUTERS/Murad Sezer

عربي

As Turkey's fateful June 7 election approaches, harassment of the pro-Kurdish People's Democracy Party (HDP) — the “wild card” in the elections — has escalated. At the end of last week, social media reported that 122 attacks had targeted HDP election offices and bureaus in 60 of Turkey's 81 provinces, or three-fourths of the country.

The digital news platform Diken published what it called “The Map of Shame" showing where the HDP has been targeted.