Good Party leader rejects Erdoğan’s proposal of quitting opposition alliance

ANKARA

Meral Akşener, the chairwoman of the Good (İYİ) Party, has refused President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s proposal to quit the oppositional alliance and join the ruling alliance after the deadly terror attack in Istanbul.

“We are not a political party that needs to hear the definition of what is national and local from Mr. Erdoğan and his aides. We are a political party that firmly rejected the 2017 referendum that brought about today’s weird government system,” Akşener told reporters late on Nov. 17.

The Good Party has not changed its position on these issues and today is defending the things that it had defended, Akşener stressed, “Therefore we are not going sit on the gambling table where the future of our people is wasted.”

President Erdoğan, in an interview with the journalists on his return from Indonesia, called on the Good Party to quit the oppositional Nation Alliance and show that it favors national interest in the aftermath of the deadly terror attack in Istanbul.

Accusing the Republican People’s Party (CHP) of allying with the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), Erdoğan said “It is thought-provoking to see that the İYİ Party is on the same line with them. Why is it there? This is worth questioning, especially in such a moment,” referring to the terror attack by the PKK in Istanbul.

The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) sees the HDP as the political wing of the PKK and accuses the Nation Alliance of creating a secret alliance with the party. The HDP is facing a closure case held at the Constitutional Court due to its alleged links to the PKK.