Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has attacked his main political rival in the upcoming election for meeting with the pro-Kurdish opposition People’s Democracy Party (HDP).

Erdogan claimed yesterday, Wednesday evening, that the HDP is the parliamentary arm of a “terrorist organization” and that presidential candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu made this party a partner in his election campaign, as the state-run Anadolu news agency reported today.

Erdogan has repeatedly identified the left-wing HDP with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which the HDP categorically rejects.

The HDP was threatened with a ban before the presidential and parliamentary elections due to accusations that it was linked to the terrorist activities of the PKK.

Kilicdaroglu is the joint candidate of six opposition parties.

The HDP is not among the parties explicitly backing Kilicdaroglu, although it has refused to field its own candidate for the May 14 presidential election.

Observers see this as an indication that the HDP is tacitly supporting Kilicdaroglu’s candidacy. The votes of HDP supporters may be decisive in the election contest.

Erdogan called the HDP a “secret partner” of the six-party alliance. Polls have shown that the re-election of the 69-year-old president, who has been in power for two decades, will be difficult.