Dissenting deputy sent to disciplinary board resigns from ruling AKP

KÜTAHYA

İdris Bal shows the flowers he received for support after the AKP decided to send him to the party's disciplinary committee. DAILY NEWS photo, Selahattin SÖNMEZ

The ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) Kütahya Deputy İdris Bal, who drew attention for his dissenting statements on several issues,  announced his resignation from his party on Nov. 30.
 
Bal was sent last week to the AKP’s Joint Disciplinary Board with the request of definite expulsion from both the party and the parliamentary group after he expressed views contrary to those of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on the latest test prep schools row.
 
“I am someone with backbone who stands upright. I won’t stay where I am not wanted,” Bal told reporters in the inner Aegean province of Kütahya where he is expected to make a speech during a rally. “They have cast all the smears possible, called me a ‘mole’. They raised all kind of obstacles to prevent me from making statements on television. I have been treated with all sorts of injustice. I resign from my party. I don’t want any party organization which does not want me,” Bal said.
 
Bal had first come forward with criticism of the government’s stance during the nationwide Gezi protests, after describing the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality’s handling of the redevelopment project for what has now become an iconic park as a “strategic mistake.”
 
Most recently, in early November, Bal questioned Erdoğan’s suggestion that new regulations could be drawn up to stop male and female students from living together, raising question marks over steps that might violate people’s private lives.
 
Erdoğan said last week that Bal’s repeated dissenting statements were “unacceptable,” accusing him of breaching the party’s internal discipline. 
 
“If someone wants to be involved in politics as a member of a particular political party, they are obliged to comply with the policies of that party. If he then becomes a candidate, he must observe internal party rules and regulations,” Erdoğan said Nov. 21.