CHP leader opposes intervention in Syria

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

Main opposition Republican People’s Party leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu (R) speaks to Hürriyet Daily News reporter Hüseyin Hayatsever at the party headquarters in Ankara. DAILY NEWS photo, Selahattin SÖNMEZ

Main opposition leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has warned that a foreign intervention in Syria may spark unrest in Turkey as well, while stressing that Arab Spring is failing to bring democracy to the region.

“An intervention in Syria could stir up not only Syria but Turkey as well, and lead to serious disturbances in the Middle East. The area of intervention there could rapidly expand,” Kılıçdaroğlu said in an interview with the Hürriyet Daily News.

The head of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) agreed with the need for democratic reform in Syria, but cast doubt on whether the toppling of dictators was really bringing democracy to Arab nations. “We see the outcome is almost the opposite of what was expected. They spoke about democracy, but more oppressive administrations are coming to power. People are worried whether the global playmakers are really on the side of human rights,” he said. “The Arab League, made up of countries with no democracy, wants democracy in a certain country. That’s not credible,” he said, stressing that the international community had no clear strategy for post-Assad Syria.

In comments on the so-called Friends of Syria meeting tomorrow, Kılıçdaroğlu said such a gathering could not produce results without the participation of all related parties. “Turkey could make a serious opening if it convenes a meeting in Istanbul with both the Syrian opposition and representatives of al-Assad, as well as Russia and Iran,” he said.

In further remarks, Kılıçdaroğlu said his party was “greatly astonished” when NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said it was Ankara who demanded the stationing of a U.S. radar in eastern Turkey as part of NATO’s missile shield project. Despite all denials, intelligence gathered by the radar will be shared with Israel, he argued, adding that the issue demonstrated the government’s “hypocritical foreign policy.”

SPECIAL-AUTHORITY COURTS A TOOL FOR POLICE OPERATIONS

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Kılıçdaroğlu said the CHP’s long-standing accusations the special-authority courts had become a tool for operations against government opponents had been confirmed in the recent crisis over the probe into the National Intelligence Organization (MİT), pointing to press reports that quoted ruling party officials as saying privately they could promptly abolish those courts if needed. “The special-authority courts are courts for [police] operations. The ruling party uses them for its political objectives and to repress dissidents. If these courts go too far and target the prime minister, then the government can abolish them,” Kılıçdaroğlu said. Kılıçdaroğlu refrained from commenting on an alleged power struggle between the ruling party and the community of Islamic cleric Fethullah Gülen. “The Gülen community and other religious communities are outside our area of interest. We look at what the government does. We are not opposed to faith-based communities, but they must not interfere in politics,” he said.

OPEN TO OPPOSITION DEMANDS

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Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu faces a critical test in the coming days as his party convenes two extraordinary conventions, marred by rivalry between his loyalists and dissidents opposed to his leadership.
Kılıçdaroğlu told the Daily News he was open to discussing all demands raised by the dissidents but said some of the changes they propose to the party statute would not make sense in practice. He mentioned the dissidents’ demands to decrease the number of signatures required to hold a chairmanship elections from 50 to 20 percent and to authorize the party assembly to elect the party’s central administrative board.
The changes the dissidents demand would fall short of making the party statute more democratic, which is why a second convention was called to ensure a broader overhaul, he said.