Calling last year’s coup attempt ‘controlled’ is denial of reason: Turkey’s opposition MHP leader

ANKARA

MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli speaks in the parliament - AA photo

Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli has said that calling the July 15, 2016, failed coup attempt a “controlled” one is a “denial of reason,” in an apparent criticism to main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu’s earlier remarks. 

“July 15 is a coup attempt. It’s an occupation attempt, of which its planners are evident. Calling this a ‘controlled coup’ is the denial of reason and the elimination of clear truth,” Bahçeli said in the special session in the parliament’s general assembly in Ankara on July 15.

Kılıçdaroğlu in April said that the coup attempt occurred within the knowledge of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and was therefore a “controlled coup,” which was met with harsh criticism from the government and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Bahçeli also slammed the “justice march” carried out by Kılıçdaroğlu between June 15 and July 9, without naming the party or its leader. 

“We will find justice in the national conscience and not on the roads,” Bahçeli said. 

Saying that the existence of a “national agreement is a must,” Bahçeli noted that the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ), widely believed to have been behind last year’s failed coup, used all the means to aim at Turkey. 

“The sides are very clear. FETÖ used all the means they could get against Turkey. Tanks and weapons were aimed at 80 million people. The existence of a national agreement is a must. Why can’t we stand against tyrants altogether?” he also said. 

“If our national identity is lost, it would be impossible to live within these borders,” he added.