Demonstrators have taken to the streets in the city of Diyarbakir in southeast Turkey to pay tribute to the victims of two recent deadly blasts at a pro-Kurdish rally ahead of Sunday’s parliamentary elections.

The blasts, which left two people dead and scores more injured, disrupted a huge gathering of the People’s Democracy Party (HDP) representing ethnic Kurds in the country.

Marchers carried HDP banners advocating peace, and chanted slogans in support of the Kurdish militant group, the PKK.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has described the Friday incident as an act of “sabotage and provocation.”

“A dirty hand is involved, this dirty hand has to be exposed,” Davutoglu, who is the leader of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), said.

Parliamentary votes

The Sunday votes for the country’s legislative body is crucial in determining whether the ruling party gets the lion’s share of the parliament seats that it seeks. The AKP needs the super-majority of the parliament’s seats to let the group easily change Turkey’s constitution to give new executive powers to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a leading member of the party.

However, if the Kurdish HDP, which is trying to pass Turkey’s 10% threshold for parliament succeeds to get the minimum percentage of the parliament’s seats, it could effectively obstruct the AKP’s plan to change the constitution.

Ball bearing bomb

Meanwhile, Turkish judicial sources in Diyarbakir told AFP that investigations about the Friday incident had revealed that the main explosion of two blasts, which were several minutes apart, caused the fatalities and was caused by a bomb packed with ball bearings.

Initial reports suggested that the blasts had been caused by an electricity transformer explosion.

The explosions marked the second act of violence against the HDP across Turkey. Earlier this week, gunmen attacked a campaign vehicle belonging to the HDP in the Kurdish-majority province of Bingol in southeastern Turkey. One person was killed during the raid.

XLS/HJL/HMV