CHP likens Balyoz to McCarthy trials in US

ANKARA

CHP spokesperson Haluk Koç says the right to a fair trial had been violated in the Balyoz case. ‘This court has made a political decision,’ he says in a press meeting. DHA photo

The court verdict in the Balyoz (Sledgehammer) coup plot case, in which 330 retired and serving soldiers were each sentenced to 13 to 20 years in prison, is not a legal but a “political” verdict, main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) Deputy Chair and Spokesperson Haluk Koç said yesterday.

“The CHP is openly against coups, coup attempts and attempts to take guardianship of democracy, and it will continue to stand against these things,” Koç said at a press conference held at his party’s headquarters.

However, he added that in the Balyoz case the right to a fair trial had been violated. “Can there be a democracy where the right to a fair trial does not exist?” he said.

“This court has made a political decision. The decision made by this court will be remembered in history alongside the trials of the McCarthy commission in America,” Haluk Koç said.

Oslo talks

Meanwhile, Koç also refuted claims that there was a division within the party with regard to its approach to holding talks between government officials and members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

“You can talk to the terror organization, but only on one condition: with the agenda of getting them to lay down their arms,” Koç said.