CHP accuses government of May Day suppression

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

CHP deputy chairman Tekin says he asked the interior minister for the footage ofthe May Day incidents. DAILY NEWS photo

The main opposition party has slammed the police raid on crowds with water cannons and tear gas on May 1. Republican People’s Party (CHP) deputy chairman Gürsel Tekin said he had asked Interior Minister Muammer Güler for the camera footage of the incidents.

“Then we’ll ask our journalist friends. What sort of hostility is this? We are not afraid of you, even if you raid with gas or bombs. What is the difference between this and what al-Assad [does],” he asked yesterday, speaking to reporters.

Marking World Press Freedom Day, Tekin noted that currently 62 journalists were jailed in Turkey.

‘Heroes’ of May Day

Meanwhile, CHP spokesman Haluk Koç also criticized both the interior minister and Istanbul Gov. Hüseyin Avni Mutlu, saying they were the “heroes” of the May Day incidents. “We have witnessed democracy in practice with gas, water and batons,” he told reporters May 3.

Koç questioned the reasons for banning May Day celebrations in Taksim Square, as he likened the ban to Nov. 29 celebrations in Ulus Square in Ankara last year, saying there had been no ongoing constriction there either.

Oppressive and authoritarian regimes’ biggest fear is the “squares,” Koç noted, but the government’s fear would not hamper his party, and “politics will follow its legitimate path. The streets will not keep silent.”
The CHP will confront the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) through protests in streets, he added.