Erdoğan: CHP, İYİ Party have been ‘handed over to FETÖ, PKK’

AFYONKARAHİSAR

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has accused the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) and its ally in the March 31 local elections, İYİ (Good) Party, of “surrendering” to the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ) and the illegal PKK.

“As in the June 24 elections, there is huge political engineering in our country,” Erdoğan said at a rally in the western province of Afyonkarahisar.

These political parties would not even normally cross paths, but now they are in talks on setting up an alliance for the upcoming local elections, Erdoğan said.

“We are not serving as a subcontractor to that charlatan in Pennsylvania and the terrorist network in Qandil [Mountains] just to get a few more votes as the CHP is,” Erdoğan said, referring to Fetullah Gülen, based in the U.S. state and who is accused by the Turkish government of having masterminded the coup attempt on July 15, 2016, and the northern Iraqi camps of the PKK.

PKK leaders ordered the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) to cooperate with the CHP in the local elections to bring down the AKP, Erdoğan said, claiming the CHP, İYİ Party and Felicity (Saadet) Party had formed a “gang” against the People’s Alliance of the AKP and Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).

He said the Turkish police had not allowed the HDP to hold a rally a few days ago because it had aimed to stir “provocations.” He said a HDP lawmaker had “bit” the arm of a female police and beat her up, criticizing the CHP for not showing reaction against the incident. He accused the CHP of “condoning street terror.”

The upcoming elections will be of vital importance for Turkey, he stated. “On March 31, you will vote for our independence and our future through the election of mayors. He told the crowd at the rally to vote for “your children’s future.”

The AKP and MHP want to record a “historical win” in the upcoming elections, he added.

The CHP and HDP have not formally made an alliance for the local elections, but the latter has not nominated candidates for some large provinces in Turkey.

Last week, CHP group vice chairman Özgür Özel said they were seeking victory in the elections, adding that his party had not made any official statements about an alliance with the HDP, which he said is “an official party.”