CHP leader calls on PM to defuse tension

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

Republican People’s Party leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu joins a lunch in Ankara. DAILY NEWS photo, Selahattin SÖNMEZ

Turkey’s main opposition leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has called on Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to use “common sense,” urging him to stop “dividing the country” and creating an “environment of conflict.”

“Stop separating people by religion or race. Take pity on the country, it’s a shame. If the Prime Minister drags the country into an environment of conflict, it will be hard to recover. I call on the Prime Minister with common sense, from the heart. Don’t divide the country,” Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kılıçdaroğlu told reporters yesterday.

Kılıçdaroğlu referred to Erdoğan’s Tuesday parliamentary addresses, which were full of strongly-worded criticisms against his political rivals, as well as the recent move to shorten the time allotted to opposition speeches at parliament.

“Listen to the Prime Minister when he speaks. He speaks like he is going to war,” said the CHP leader. “This increases the country’s stress, which has no benefits for citizens. Tension will not yield results. Tension leads to conflict. Why are they doing this?” he said.

“We need an administration that looks at things respectfully, calmly, and from a broader angle. We are being dragged into conflict.”

“Of course there will be conflicts in politics. But that should not happen every day. They’re even trying to silence us in parliament. Where will the opposition speak?” the CHP leader asked.