CHP leader lashes out at Erdoğan’s Lausanne remarks
ISTANBUL – Doğan News Agency
AA photo
The leader of Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) has harshly criticized President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s recent remarks deriding the 1923 Lausanne Treaty, which was the cornerstone of the modern Turkish republic, saying that “no one has the right to betray his/her history.”Kılıçdaroğlu’s remarks came as he answered press questions after a meeting in Istanbul with foreign press representatives.
The CHP leader also questioned why this issue was being brought up while there was “this much unemployment, corruption and people chasing after their lives, and in all 81 provinces of Turkey and all its districts victims are looking for an exit.”
“Lausanne is Turkey’s deed. We defend Lausanne, they defended Sevres,” said Kılıçdaroğlu, calling on Erdoğan to answer the question of whether he defended the Treaty of Sevres, which marked the beginning of the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire.
“We defend Ankara, they defend Istanbul. We defend republic, they defend caliphate. We defend the citizens, they defend being subjects,” he said, calling on the president to remember that he “sat on that seat [the Presidency] thanks to the republic and the Lausanne [Treaty].”
“Nobody has the right to betray his/her history... If you do not know history, call a historian and talk with him... One sitting on the presidential seat cannot betray his/her country,” he said.
Kılıçdaroğlu also warned against speculations against him accusing him of giving up on the “Yenikapı spirit,” referring to the political solidarity environment which emerged after the July 15 failed coup attempt in Turkey. “If this is what you understand from ‘Yenikapı spirit,’ we are against this spirit,” he said.
“We love our country. We love our history. We are proud of our history. We are proud of our republic. We did not betray our history and will not,” said Kılıçdaroğlu.
The CHP leader also questioned why this issue was being brought up while there was “this much unemployment, corruption and people chasing after their lives, and in all 81 provinces of Turkey and all its districts victims are looking for an exit.”
“Lausanne is Turkey’s deed. We defend Lausanne, they defended Sevres,” said Kılıçdaroğlu, calling on Erdoğan to answer the question of whether he defended the Treaty of Sevres, which marked the beginning of the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire.
“We defend Ankara, they defend Istanbul. We defend republic, they defend caliphate. We defend the citizens, they defend being subjects,” he said, calling on the president to remember that he “sat on that seat [the Presidency] thanks to the republic and the Lausanne [Treaty].”
“Nobody has the right to betray his/her history... If you do not know history, call a historian and talk with him... One sitting on the presidential seat cannot betray his/her country,” he said.
Kılıçdaroğlu also warned against speculations against him accusing him of giving up on the “Yenikapı spirit,” referring to the political solidarity environment which emerged after the July 15 failed coup attempt in Turkey. “If this is what you understand from ‘Yenikapı spirit,’ we are against this spirit,” he said.
“We love our country. We love our history. We are proud of our history. We are proud of our republic. We did not betray our history and will not,” said Kılıçdaroğlu.
