Turkish PM is the only one who has protection in Parliament, administrator says

ANKARA

Lawmakers at the Turkish Parliament have no safety, parliamentary administrator Malik Ecder Özemir has said following an attack on the main opposition leader, adding measures were only taken for the prime minister’s security.

“There are extreme measures for Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan; a wall is built with bodyguards.
Aside from him, no one has protection over their life,” Özdemir said during a live program at private broadcaster CNNTürk on April 9. “People with good intentions cannot enter Parliament. Someone, who has malicious intentions and criminal records, can freely enter, as happened the other day.”

The assault on Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu took place at Parliament while he was heading to a weekly parliamentary group meeting on April 8, the first such meeting after Parliament returned from recess due to the March 30 local elections.

Turkey would be shaken if the attack happened to Erdoğan, instead of Kılıçdaroğlu, Özdemir said.

“There has been no statement from the Interior Ministry since the attack. Is the deputy of the Interior Ministry tweeting?” he said, stressing the release of the attacker before 24 hours passed was a sign that there was no legal system in Turkey.

“[The detainment of the attacker] would be encouraging,” Özdemir added.

Attacks expected

The attack on Kılıçdaroğlu was premeditated, Özdemir said, underlining that one year ago he warned against such attacks at Parliament.

“I said even armed clashes could happen at Parliament. I told [parliamentary speaker] Cemil Çiçek, too,” he said. “It was said the attacker had never been to Parliament before. We see that it is an assault that was planned professionally when watching the security camera footage. He is not someone who went to Parliament for the first time.”

The attacker knew where to go and the place where the weakest point was for security cameras to carry out the assault, Özdemir stated, adding it was a premeditated attack with the help of others.

‘AKP lawmakers carrying guns’

Some of the lawmakers from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) were coming to the General Assembly with their guns, Özdemir said, claiming that the parliamentary speaker knew about the self-armament.

“The parliamentary speaker knows some of the AKP MPs come to the General Assembly with guns. I realized [this], and so did the parliamentary speaker,” he said, adding there were no regulations because the parliamentary speaker was not able to cope with the AKP or Erdoğan.

There are people in the AKP who never come to the General Assembly or make addresses from the platform, he said, adding their only duty was to pick a fight by sitting at the front lines during tense meetings.