CHP leader vows to make further efforts for justice

ANKARA

Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu on June 16 pledged to continue his party’s efforts on maintaining justice in Turkey.

“Don’t think this walk is an end, this is our first step,” he said, speaking at the CHP’s parliament meeting.

Kılıçdaroğlu was referring to his “justice march” from Ankara to Istanbul, kicked off after the arrest of CHP’s former deputy Enis Berberoğlu in 2017.

He stressed that the “justice march” was for all 83 million citizens of Turkey. “Are we still at the same point? No, that was our first step. We will continue this struggle to the end,” he stated.

Criticizing the government’s understating of “justice,” the CHP leader said, “Every era has a pharaoh.”

“Our constitution says, ‘The state takes measures to ensure freedom of the press and news.’ Turkey in the 21st century is exactly the opposite. They undertake diametrically opposite practices against the constitution. All the information causing the arrest of [journalist] Müyesser Yıldız is still available on the internet. Only the [presidential] palace wants the public not to hear it. That’s why people are getting arrested,” he said, referring to the recent arrest of the Oda TV journalist due to her coverage of Turkey’s involvement in the Libyan war.

He accused the government of trying to take control over opposition media in Turkey.

“They try to create an agenda with trolls on social media. Many journalists are in prison. They do not even implement the European Court of Human Rights judgments. This is the pharaoh’s justice,” he said.

The government has turned the media outlets in Turkey to pro-government entities, but the people in the country do not have the appetite for their coverage, he said.