AKP using CHP-run municipalities in ads: CHP leader

ANKARA

Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has said the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has been filming its ads for the March 31 local elections in CHP-run municipalities because of their successes.

“Even this shows how well we are doing at the local governance level,” he told Best FM in an interview late March 24.

He slammed government claims that members of the illegal PKK were among CHP’s candidates for the mayoral elections of March 31. “Do you not have an intelligence organization to determine whether or not they are PKK members? If they are, then why did you not arrest them?” he said.

Kılıçdaroğlu believes the latest onslaught against the opposition by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was driven by his AKP’s fear of losing in the elections.

“The People’s Alliance sees they are losing, which is why he [Erdoğan] is saying he does not trust pollsters,” the CHP leader said.

Kılıçdaroğlu claimed the concerns of the citizens and the People’s Alliance were different. “The people are worried about economic problems,” he said.

He also criticized Erdoğan’s threats against citizens who were exchanging foreign currencies amid a sharp loss in the value of the Turkish Lira. “If there is anyone cheating, why are you not asking for an account now, but addressing these after the elections?” he said.

“There is a political power that does not give confidence. [They do] only politics through threats and blackmail,” he said.

“The Turkish people are fed up with the current government in Turkey,” he said.