We are not alone against polarization: CHP head Kılıçdaroğlu

İSTANBUL

The main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) is “not alone against the government’s understanding that polarizes society and constrains citizens in an ‘us vs. them’ dilemma,” CHP head Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has said.

“We saw in the ‘Justice March’ and the ‘Justice Congress’ that millions of us can meet under the umbrella of the concept of justice, which is the essence of all sacred religions,” Kılıçdaroğlu said in a message marking Eid al-Adha (Feast of Sacrifice). 

He visited jailed CHP deputy Enis Berberoğlu in prison in Istanbul on Sept. 1, the first day of Eid al-Adha. 

“If the judiciary makes decisions by order from certain authorities, there is no justice in that country and no one can have security of life or property,” Kılıçdaroğlu told reporters during the prison visit.

The CHP leader said the arrest of MPs is a “democratic shame” and his party “could not accept it.”

He said Berberoğlu’s spirits remain high and he is engaging in a “struggle for democracy,” noting that by jailing an elected lawmaker the “national will” was put in prison. 

The CHP will carry on the struggle to bring about “real justice, law and rights” to Turkey, Kılıçdaroğlu vowed.

“No one innocent should be arrested, detained or convicted. We want an independent and impartial judiciary for this aim,” he said, stressing that “every part of society, including rulers, should recognize the importance of the independence of the judiciary.

Berberoğlu was jailed on June 14 after an Istanbul court sentenced him to 25 years for “leaking state secrets” regarding a Turkish National Intelligence Agency (MİT) trucks case. 

Berberoğlu, who became the first CHP lawmaker to be handed prison time, was accused of providing daily Cumhuriyet with video footage purporting to show the MİT trucking weapons to Syria.

The CHP, under the leadership of Kılıçdaroğlu, launched its “justice march” from Ankara to Istanbul after Berberoğlu was sentenced.