CHP slams foreign policy of Erdoğan

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

‘Could you imagine that one of our countries would be able to down one of our jets? Nobody could think of that,’ Kılıçdaroğlu says at CHP group meeting. AA photo

Acknowledging that Syria’s shooting down of a Turkish jet in the eastern Mediterranean was an “unforgettable and unforgivable assault,” main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has accused the government of weakening Turkey’s deterrence because of its “foreign policy that depends on bluff.”

“Let’s ask ourselves. Could you imagine that one of our countries would be able to down one of our jets? Nobody could think of that,” Kılıçdaroğlu said at his party’s group meeting, adding that foreign policy mistakes of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) had made Turkey’s deterrence questionable.

Courage of sending a diplomatic note

Kılıçdaroğlu recalled that that U.S. troops had raided the Turkish military’s liaison office in Suleimaniya on July 4, 2003, placing a “hood” on 11 Turkish special forces soldiers, but the government had not “shown the courage of sending a diplomatic note to the U.S.”

“The government claims that Turkey has become a major power. No major power turns a blind eye to the killing of nine of its citizens, it’s intolerable. They said that it was a cause of war at the beginning, and then ministers held secret talks in the hotel rooms of Brussels to make a new start. Such bluffs dealt a big blow to Turkey’s deterrence,” he said.

Mavi Marmara

Kılıçdaroğlu was referring to the Mavi Marmara flotilla incident in 2010, in which nine Turkish citizens were killed by Israeli commandos in international waters, after which Israel did not apologize.
“Foreign policy cannot depend on bluff. Let’s compare the two speeches of [Prime Minister Recep Tayyip] Erdoğan that he delivered after Israel’s killing of our nine citizens and Syria’s downing of our jet. They are nearly the same speeches, full of epic rhetoric. Erdoğan has become an object of derision in Middle Eastern newspapers. This is unacceptable for us,” Kılıçdaroğlu said.

The CHP leader once again said they would lend their support to the government to use diplomatic routes to resolve the crisis.