[ABC.NET.AU] Turkish president Yayyip Erdogan has traded blows with the opposition ahead of today's parliamentary vote which could give the incumbent sweeping new powers.Mr Erdogan is hoping the ruling AK Party he founded will win a crushing victory, allowing it to change the constitution and handing him broad presidential powers.
Tensions heightened on Friday after two bombs tore through a Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) rally in the city of Diyarbakir in the mainly Kurdish south-east, killing two and injuring at least 200.
The pro-Kurdish party has accused the president of failing to show respect for two opposition supporters who died.
HDP leader Selahattin Demirtas criticised Mr Erdogan, saying the president had gone ahead with his own rally after news of the attack broke, and had been slow to mention the tragedy.
"He should go to Diyarbakir. Is he not the president of 77 million people? He ought to leave flowers where people were killed," Mr Demirtas told a rally on the Asian side of Istanbul.
Mr Erdogan countered by saying it was Mr Demirtas who should apologise, and accused him of instigating violence in October, linked to events in Syria, that killed dozens.