Marginal leftist DHKP-C (Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front) militants are trying to provoke the unrest in the streets of Turkey, said Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Speaking at a local election rally in the southern province of Mersin, Erdogan said, "Some marginal leftist groups such as DHKP-C are attempting to provoke trouble on the streets in the run up to the elections and some media groups, businessmen contribute to these provocations by the DHKP-C in Turkey."
Erdogan also accused U.S.-based scholar Fethullah Gulen of provoking unrest on the streets of Turkey with a condolence message for 15-year-old boy Berkin Elvan who died earlier this week after being wounded last year in the Gezi park protests in Istanbul.
Gulen in his message on Wednesday criticized the Turkish government and said, "Instead of taking steps to defuse the events sparked by an obsession to build a shopping center, polarizing language was used to incite them further, and this has caused the death of a number of our youth."
Erdogan also criticized the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) for taking a similar position to that of DHKP-C and urged the MHP supporters to keep away from the provocations.
DHKP-C is a Marxist-Leninist party in Turkey. It was founded in 1978 as the Revolutionary Left and was renamed in 1994 after factional infighting, a number of assassinations and suicide bombings.
It is also the perpetrator of the attack that targetted the US Embassy in Ankara in 2013.
It is considered a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.
englishnews@aa.com.tr
