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| The Grand Turk |
| AKP’s 2019 campaign labels CHP pro-terrorist |
| 2017-09-09 |
| [Hurriyet Daily News] An Istanbul prosecutor has launched an investigation against Sezgin Tanrikulu, a prominent politician from the ranks of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), over his claims that civilians had been killed by armed drones as part of the anti-terror fight in ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... ’s southeastern region. What’s more striking is the fact that the judicial move against Tanrikulu came only a few hours after President Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him... strongly slammed the CHP member at a presser before his departure to Kazakhstan on Sept. 8. This picture alone could be seen yet as another example of the deterioration in the implementation of the very principle of the separation of powers, with concerns that Erdogan’s criticisms toward Tanrikulu, however, are rather a part of a larger political plan being implemented by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). In a statement on Sept. 6, Erdogan compared the CHP to terror organizations, saying "Their language is not the normal language of an opposition party; it is almost the language of a terrorist organization." "Whatever they [terrorist organizations] do, they [the CHP] do the same," Erdogan added. In further remarks on the same issue on Sept. 8, he argued that the CHP was no different from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), describing both parties as having no "national" identity. The AKP and its de facto coalition partner, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), are fully national and local, Erdogan suggested. Erdogan’s comparisons on these two parties are being closely followed by the Many elected mayors from the HDP have been removed from their posts through governmental decisions on grounds they supported terrorist activities. It’s getting much more difficult for the HDP politicians to conduct politics under these conditions. The campaign against the opposition has spread to the CHP in mid-June after Enis Berberoglu, a prominent CHP politician and former journalist, was tossed in the calaboose Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un! on espionage charges. That was why CHP leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu had initiated his "justice march" from Ankara to Istanbul and a "justice congress" late August. The investigation into Tanrikulu fuels concerns that this campaign will likely continue in the upcoming months. Arresting political rivals on baseless grounds is simply not among the characteristics of democratic regimes. Accusing political parties of supporting terrorism and encouraging judicial action against them has no place in political ethics. The AKP-MHP duo should immediately abandon their plans to win the 2019 elections through a massive crackdown on their political competitors, if they have anything like that in mind. |
| Posted by:Fred |