Erdoğan calls on CHP not to put pressure on Turkish courts

ISTANBUL

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has called on the Republican People’s Party (CHP) not to impose pressure on the Turkish judiciary over the case against Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu and vowed no tolerance against those who try to disrupt public order and peace.

“If you have the courage, let democracy and law function. If you have the courage, let the courts make their decisions on behalf of the Turkish nation without any pressure,” Erdoğan said at an iftar dinner on late March 22 in Istanbul.

Erdoğan referred to an ongoing legal case against İmamoğlu over alleged graft and terror accusations. The detention of İmamoğlu on March 19 sparked mass protests across the country, especially in Istanbul with the participation of tens of thousands of people.

“Like it or not, but no one is outside of the scope of the law. There is no and there will never be a privileged minority in Türkiye that has liberty to commit crimes,” Erdoğan said.

The government will not show tolerance against the CHP members who attempt to disrupt the public order, the president stressed, vowing to foil the plans of those who aim to break the unity of 86 million people in the country.

“Whatever the opposition will do, we won’t deviate from common sense, patience and peace. Our municipalities will serve the people without engaging into corruption,” Erdoğan stressed.

Criticizing the CHP and its chairman Özgür Özel over the street protests that have been going on since March 19, Erdoğan argued the main opposition will not considered a political party unless it gets rid of “the thieves and the looters” within itself.

President Erdoğan expressed his wish to compete against an opposition party of the same caliber and quality, describing the current state of the CHP as “miserable.”