Erdogan se prethodno protivio sastanku s tom prokurdskom strankom zbog njenog odbijanja da osudi PKK kao terorističku organizaciju, kakvom je smatraju Turska, EU i Sjedinjene Države.
Previously, Erdogan had been resisting meeting with the pro-Kurdish party because of its refusal to denounce the PKK as a terrorist organisation, as it is considered by Turkey, the EU and the United States.