Turkey's main pro-Kurdish party, the Democratic Society Party (DTP), has been told once again to cut its links with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) or further risk its already battered credibility in Europe.

"You cannot do both. You cannot be in the mountains and in Parliament at the same time," Hannes Swoboda, vice president of the Socialist bloc in the European Union, said in an interview with Today's Zaman. "At the end of the day, you have to decide one way or another. If you say Parliament does not help, you leave Parliament and go to fight. But doing both is not possible."

The DTP has recently heard a lot of similar criticism from the EU, souring ties between the pro-Kurdish party and Brussels. The DTP is already isolated in Parliament, particularly by the governing Justice and Development Party (AK Party) of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who avoids even shaking hands with DTP leaders in the corridors of Parliament.

It is also facing a closure case at the Constitutional Court and many see the closure as inevitable even though the court proceedings are still continuing.

Despite the pressure from all fronts, the DTP is nowhere near a significant policy reversal. Instead, the tension with the government escalated dramatically when DTP supporters recently staged violent demonstrations to protest the alleged mistreatment of Abdullah Öcalan, the founder of the PKK, in jail. The standoff grew even bigger when Erdoğan launched a tour of southeastern Anatolian provinces despite protests from the DTP. Erdoğan, whose AK Party competes with the DTP for the Kurdish vote in the Southeast, has hit back at the protests by the DTP through highly controversial statements that took the government's liberal supporters by surprise; he said those who do not believe in the unity of the "one-flag, one-nation" country should leave Turkey.

Analysts say the DTP is closer to a pro-PKK line now after the recent standoff with the government and under the shadow of closure. In reality, links between the PKK and the DTP are more than obvious in individual cases, such as a DTP deputy whose husband is known to be an armed terrorist fighting security forces. The DTP has called for an end to violence but has rejected calls to denounce the PKK as a terrorist organization.

"I can understand feelings on the part of certain people, but politically, you have to make your choice," Swoboda said in the interview, which followed talks in Ankara with Erdoğan and President Abdullah Gül. But he was critical of the prime minister as well, expressing criticism at his recent remarks and calling on him to treat DTP members with more respect.

"In a democracy, elected politicians should be respected. Nobody says the prime minister has to love them, nobody says the prime minister should let the Kurdish votes go to the DTP … but I do think in a normal Parliament, working together is a necessity to deal with problems," he said.

The Austrian politician also noted that the prime minister appears to have put his main focus on social and economic development and healthcare improvement in the impoverished Southeast -- recalling Erdoğan explaining in their meeting earlier this week how state helicopters were dispatched to remote villages to bring pregnant women to hospitals into cities to deliver their babies -- but said this was simply not enough without the accompanying political action.

"I think that European history shows that solving economic and social issues does not solve all the problems if there is a minority which has been politicized in a country," he said, calling for new ideas such as decentralization, which will give the local administration greater power to influence the daily lives of residents. "I hope that in the dialogue between the EU and the prime minister, we can make it clear that respect for different ethnic groups does not contradict the unity of the country."

Swoboda also warned against the closure of the DTP, saying it would be a "disaster" for the DTP and Turkey's image in Europe and called for prosecution of individual party members if they have ties with the PKK instead.

The socialist politician, known as a strong advocate of Turkish membership in the EU, also lamented the slowdown in the government's reform pace, noting its unfulfilled promises on a constitutional overhaul as the "biggest disappointment."

"I had expected more [from the AK Party]. I would still hope for more," he said, expressing regret that the AK Party seems to lack an overall vision on how Turkey should look like in the next 15-20 years. "I don't expect a total change of the country in a few years. But if you come to a standstill, you cannot remain where you are, you begin moving backward, like when you ride a bicycle."

Hopes for CHP

Swoboda, on the other hand, appeared to have hopes on a recent initiative by the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) towards religiously conservative segments of society that traditionally vote for parties on the right and the AK Party. CHP leader Deniz Baykal surprised many, including a big number of his own party members, by welcoming headscarved women into his staunchly secular party, although critics say it could turn out to be a shallow move timed to increase the CHP vote in next March's local elections. "I hope that CHP is really trying to broaden its base of supporters. … For me, it is absolutely important that out of this spectacular action of Mr. Baykal comes a real discussion inside the party and a reorientation of the party," he said. "I can not imagine that the party will be successful if it stays as strict on issues as it has been before. I think some of the issues like the headscarf should not be divisive issue among different parties, at least not as strongly as it is now. It should be social and economic issues as dividing lines."

He also said he hoped the CHP would eventually revise its outlook: "I hope the CHP will find the path to have a pro-European, social democratic orientation instead of a strong Kemalist orientation, which resembles priests of a god who want to preserve the devotion to this god. That's not a role for a political party," he said.

Todays Zaman