Nationalist party calls on government to defuse political strain

İZMİR

MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli says Turkey is moving away from being a state of law. AA photo

The leader of the opposition Nationalist party has called on Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to immediately defuse political tension over a graft probe.

The government should respect the judiciary even if the corruption investigation were to reach his children; Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Leader Devlet Bahçeli told crowds at a ceremony where his party announced itw candidates for local elections on Dec. 29.

Stressing that Erdoğan and his government acted against the Constitution, Bahçeli said the prime minister hampered the trials of those who were accused of corruption.

Prime Minister Erdoğan should pave the way for proceedings, or he would be judged in the Supreme Court, said Bahçeli.

“Turkey is rapidly moving away from being a state of law,” he added.

Citing trials such as Sledgehammer and Ergenekon, Bahçeli said human rights and freedoms were sabotaged through leaking wiretaps on private lives of people.

Soldiers from the Turkish Armed Forces were “marked as pro-coup and their lives were made miserable,” said the nationalist leader.

At the end, deputies from the Justice and Development Party (AKP) confessed that accusations against the Turkish Armed Forces were plots, Bahçeli said.

“It’s become clear that court rulings of so-called coup cases were not fair and legal,” he added.