CHP leader: We don’t want Turkish soldiers in foreign lands

BOLU – Doğan News Agency

CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu (C) attends a cooking festival in Mengen. DHA photo

Turkey’s main opposition leader has said his party is against the Turkish military’s possible operations in neighboring countries.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Sept. 26 gave the clearest signal yet of Turkey's readiness to join a possible ground operation against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

“Related countries are now planning a ground operation,” Erdoğan said, while mentioning Oct. 2 as the key date the Turkish Parliament is expected to vote on a new motion to expand the scope of motions authorizing the army to conduct cross-border operations into Iraq and Syria.   

“We will first check the content of the motions,” Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu told reporters on Sept. 27 in Bolu's Mengen town when asked about the possibility of the Turkish military getting involved in a ground operation in Syria and Iraq.

“We don’t want the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) to enter the territory of another country, we don’t want it to be a part of a war,” he said.

Kılıçdaroğlu also criticized the government and President Erdoğan.

“Turkey has a mountain of problems, but he [Erdoğan] goes to the U.N. and makes a speech in front of empty rows,” the CHP leader said.

“There is trouble called ISIL, which has been killing many people and is also a threat to Turkey. The government could not even call it a terrorist group until recently. Our 49 citizens were kept hostage at the hands of the ISIL for 101 days. Turkey has no dignity in the region, in the West, but what do we discuss? They try to put a headscarf on five-year-old, seven-year-old kids.”

The CHP leader said the children should not be a part of political debates, while slamming the government on its education polices. 

“The education system should not be outdated,” said Kılıçdaroğlu. “The children should know what a free minds is. Our education system kills the children’s’ curiosity, and the government is trying to create diversion with the headscarf debate.”