Kemal Kilicdaroglu, head of the secularist Republican People’s Party (CHP) that pulled off victories in the March 31 vote, had attended a funeral for one of four Turkish soldiers killed on Friday in clashes with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, whose AK Party wants the election results annulled in Istanbul, had repeatedly warned during last month’s campaign that PKK members were among the CHP’s list of candidates. The PKK clashes in the country’s southeast on Friday prompted several pro-government newspapers to tie the soldiers’ deaths to the CHP.
