Kılıçdaroğlu a national security issue, AKP deputy chair proclaims
ANKARA
AA Photo
The leader of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, has become a national security issue, ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Secretary-General Abdülhamit Gül has said, claiming that Kılıçdaroğlu was acting with those who “support terror.”“Kılıçdaroğlu acts as if he is the co-chair of the HDP [Peoples’ Democratic Party],” Gül said, commenting on a rally organized in Istanbul’s Kartal district last week.
“Kılıçdaroğlu, who participated in the Kartal rally with those who support terror, has become a national security issue. Turkey is experiencing Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu as a national security issue. The HDP co-chairs are in prison, but Kılıçdaroğlu is acting as if he is a HDP co-chair,” he also said.
Ten HDP lawmakers, including co-chairs Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ, were arrested in a probe launched against 14 of the party’s deputies over alleged links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
Saying that CHP was founded by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder of modern Turkey, Gül noted that Kılıçdaroğlu acts with the ones who say “we have terrorists behind us.”
Gül’s remarks refer to Yüksekdağ’s statements regarding the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD).
“We have the PYD at our back,” Yüksekdağ said at a rally in 2014 in solidarity with the group, causing massive criticism from the government.
During his speech, Gül also talked about the debate on a new charter, saying the one formed in 1982, which is currently being used, had been controversial since its adoption.
“We’ve always emphasized that Turkey needs a new and civilian charter. We sat at the table two times [to change the constitution], but we couldn’t do it because the CHP fled the table. An opposition party which rejects a draft that it didn’t even see cannot give anything to this country,” he said.
“Kılıçdaroğlu, who participated in the Kartal rally with those who support terror, has become a national security issue. Turkey is experiencing Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu as a national security issue. The HDP co-chairs are in prison, but Kılıçdaroğlu is acting as if he is a HDP co-chair,” he also said.
Ten HDP lawmakers, including co-chairs Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ, were arrested in a probe launched against 14 of the party’s deputies over alleged links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
Saying that CHP was founded by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder of modern Turkey, Gül noted that Kılıçdaroğlu acts with the ones who say “we have terrorists behind us.”
Gül’s remarks refer to Yüksekdağ’s statements regarding the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD).
“We have the PYD at our back,” Yüksekdağ said at a rally in 2014 in solidarity with the group, causing massive criticism from the government.
During his speech, Gül also talked about the debate on a new charter, saying the one formed in 1982, which is currently being used, had been controversial since its adoption.
“We’ve always emphasized that Turkey needs a new and civilian charter. We sat at the table two times [to change the constitution], but we couldn’t do it because the CHP fled the table. An opposition party which rejects a draft that it didn’t even see cannot give anything to this country,” he said.
