JINHA

AMED - A newspaper close to Turkey's ruling AKP has misquoted Kurdish woman politician Emine Ayna as advocating armed struggle. The newspaper has declined to issue a correction.

Democratic Regions Party (DBP) Co-chair Emine Ayna spoke in a press conference on Thursday. She said that, "we are a political party conducting a political struggle for autonomy." The newspaper Sabah and several websites misquoted the Kurdish politician as saying "armed struggle." Sabah is known for its proximity to Turkey's ruling AKP. The DBP said in a statement that they had asked Sabah to correct the quote, but the newspaper took no action.

"What is the motive behind this distortion?" asked the DBP in a statement. Newspapers close to Erdoğan are unable to present any convincing argument against autonomy, the party said. Instead, they have resorted to warping politicians' words to foment war.

"Just when Erdoğan is trying to get society to take the hemlock, society is waking up," said the DBP. "He has tried to direct the rising anger and repulsion at our party and the Kurdish people, in the person of our co-chair. But once the truth comes out, you can't quell it."

(fk/cm)