CHP leader vows to lower alcohol tax if he comes to power

ANKARA

Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has vowed to lower the alcohol taxes when he comes to power, suggesting the government’s rise of taxes has turned into an intervention in lifestyles.

“Increases in the taxes of alcohol are intimidation and cruelty. The state cannot besiege, harass or disturb a certain way of life. The state protects every way of life,” Kılıçdaroğlu said on Twitter late on Jan. 8.

With the annual rise of the special consumption taxes, the prices of alcoholic beverages have also recently increased. Kılıçdaroğlu described this increase as an effort of the government to intervene in lifestyles.

Promising to resolve this problem after the elections, Kılıçdaroğlu said, “This is one of the important issues that we will resolve six months after the polls by reformulating the taxes.”

Türkiye will go to the presidential and parliamentary polls in Spring 2023 with Kılıçdaroğlu is seen as the potential presidential candidate of the opposition alliance against incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

In the meantime, Kılıçdaroğlu, in an address at a ceremony held by Esenyurt Municipality in Istanbul, voiced once again his support to Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, who is at risk of losing his job because of an ongoing court case.

Accusing the government of using its influence on justice and trying to dismiss İmamoğlu, Kılıçdaroğlu said the CHP would never allow such a thing. “İmamoğlu will give his accounts to the 16 million residents of Istanbul. The one who is elected should leave his or her post through elections. They know that our mayor will garner even more votes in the next [mayoral] elections.”

İmamoğlu was elected as the joint candidate of the CHP and the İYİ (Good) Party in mid-2019.