Erdoğan invites ruling AKP, opposition CHP, MHP leaders to rally

ANKARA – Anadolu Agency

Prime Minister Binali Yildirim (L) and Republican People's Party leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu (R) give a joint press conference after their meeting at the Republican People's Party's headquarters in Ankara, on August 01, 2016. AFP photo

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has called on the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) and Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leaders to join a rally that is planned to take place on Aug. 7 in Istanbul.

Erdoğan made the call on Aug. 1, the same day his lawyer announced that he had sent a petition to withdraw cases he opened against party leaders, excluding the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP).

Erdoğan has asked the party leaders to attend the “Democracy and Martyrs Rally” to be held in the Yenikapı neighborhood of Istanbul and asked them to deliver individual speeches.