happy about the election result, following the loss of his majority, he increased attacks against the Turkish Kurds and against trade unions themselves. As such, the attack in Ankara should be seen in the context of the political situation in Turkey and the role that the Turkish government has been playing in the region.

The HDP



What brought an end to AKP’s majority and ruling the country on its own was the creation of HDP which passed the 10% threshold (earning 13.12% and gaining 80 seats) at the last general election this past June. The creation of HDP united several left wing Turkish groups, The Peace and Democracy Party (Kurds), see also Democratic Regions Party, Greens, trade unions, feminist groups, LGBT groups and ethnic initiatives of the Alevi, Armenians andPomaklars.



The HDP was described by its founding chairpersons as a party that aims to eliminate the exploitation of labour and to fundamentally re-establish a democracy in which honourable and humanitarian individuals can live together as equal citizens. It was further described as a party aiming to bring about fundamental change to the existing Capitalist system though uniting a wide range of left-wing opposition movements. Gök claimed that any political movement with similar aims to the HDK that had not merged with the party was more than welcome to do so. However, Önen claimed that the HDP would be entering elections as an individual party and not as part of a wider electoral alliance, adding that the party is itself formed of a wide coalition of political forces in