Opposition İYİ Party leader criticizes admirals’ declaration

ANKARA

İYİ (Good) Party Chair Meral Akşener called a declaration signed by 104 retired admirals in support of the Montreux Convention “nonsense talk.”

“I am saying my opinion: Turkey has suffered a lot of such nonsense talk,” Akşener said at a press conference on April 4.

Akşener said that midnight statements made by members of the armed bureaucracy, even though they are retired, are often reminiscent of coups, which have in the past led to “the interruption of democracy” in Turkey.

“Until now, coups and memoranda were made by armed bureaucrats who did not like the opposition’s stance against the ruling party. They were made saying, ‘The opposition cannot do this job, we are doing it better’,” she stated.

Eventually, those declarations and a coup d’etat of that time resulted not only in the toppling of the ruling power, but also changed the opposition, she stated.

She noted that the real problem of the country is economic issues, and the retired admiral’s declaration allowed the government to “stamp on it.”

But some party members have given support to the “Montreux Declaration.”

Aytun Çıray, İYİ Party lawmaker and adviser to Akşener, also defended the declaration.

“As a medical lieutenant I put my signature under it,” he wrote on Twitter shortly after the declaration was released on April 4.

Meanwhile, the government’s reaction to a letter from retired admirals is a “fake agenda” that aims to distract the public from Turkey’s real problems, main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has said.

“These fake agendas do not work. The only real agenda of our people is their dinner table,” Kılıçdaroğlu tweeted on April 4.

Elaborating on the government’s reaction to the admirals’ letter, which encouraged the government to uphold the Montreux Convention that governs maritime traffic through the Turkish straits, CHP spokesperson Faik Öztrak said the comments aimed to “cover up” the real agenda of Turkey using “allegations of a coup d’état.”

The government is trying to portray itself as a “victim” again with the letter, Öztrak said.

The nation is fed up with these attempts of “fake agendas and manipulations of perceptions,” he said at a press conference.

Nevertheless, the CHP stands against all coup attempts, Öztrak said.

He also warned the government to “beware of raghead admirals” in the army, instead of retired ones.