CHP leader calls for parliamentary debate over Ukrainian war

ANKARA

Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has criticized the security summit that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan convened after Russia staged war against Ukraine, saying the parliament should have debated the issue and a National Security Council should have evaluated the crisis.

“What law is the security summit based on? Is there a legal basis for the security summit? I don’t remember any organization called a security summit,” he said, speaking at the CHP’s parliamentary group meeting.

Erdoğan on Feb. 24 presided over a security summit to assess the ongoing developments following the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“If the summit is a state summit, there is an institution for it,” Kılıçdaroğlu said, addressing the MGK.

“If you leave this institution aside and build a parallel structure, we have a serious problem,” he stated.

The MGK is a constitutional institution, and if the president convened this institution, bureaucrats and politicians would be able to learn the facts on the issue, Kılıçdaroğlu stated.

The parliament should have been convened urgently, he said, noting that after the attack of Russia he called the other components of the alliance. “I said the parliament should be open.”

Turkey should stay impartial in the war between Russia and Ukraine, Kılıçdaroğlu said and criticized Ankara for abstaining from voting in the Council of Europe, which suspended Russia from its rights of representation in the Committee of Ministers and in the Parliamentary Assembly.