CHP slams government over the deployment of foreign troops

ANKARA

Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the chairman of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) has reiterated his party’s decision to vote against a motion that extends the government’s permission to send troops to Iraq and Syria for another two years because the document allows the deployment of foreign troops in the soils of Türkiye.

“We don’t want the presence of the foreign troops in our country. Inviting foreign troops to own country on the pretext of the anti-terror fight is a treason,” Kılıçdaroğlu said in his weekly address to the CHP parliamentary group on Oct. 17.

His statement came hours before the Parliament was set to vote a governmental motion that seeks the extension of the stay of the Turkish army in Iraq and Syria to fight against the terrorist organizations, the PKK and the YPG.

“As the CHP, as its leader who has been subject to a terror attack, we have always stood against the terror. Terror is a crime against humanity and the fight against it is inevitable,” he said. But, Kılıçdaroğlu said, the motion also allows the government to invite foreign troops to Türkiye if necessary.

“Who are these foreign troops?” Kılıçdaroğlu asked, and wanted both President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the leader of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli to give an answer.

Earlier in the day, Bahçeli slammed Kılıçdaroğlu for not voting in favor of the motion. “Mr. Kılıçdaroğlu, stop talking empty and answer whether you will say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to the motion. Show where you stand. Are you supporting the separatists or not who are against Türkiye’s national security?”