Main opposition party leader pledges to bring corruption cases to account
Rifat Başaran - KONYA
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Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kııçdaroğlu has pledged to bring the now-dropped Dec. 17 and Dec. 25, 2013, graft probe cases into account.Speaking during a side ceremony on the occasion of the Şeb-i Aruz (Night of Union) to commemorate the 741st anniversary of the death of Jalaladdin Rumi (Mevlana), Kılıçdaroğlu said the Dec.17 and Dec. 25, 2013, cases were incidents which saw a state robbed by a government.
“One will talk about rightful share, and then they will rob the state. People will not tolerate this double standard,” he said, adding everyone should take a common stance against corruption.
“The government tried to close this file [the graft probes] with all its power. There is no historical record that thieves succeed forever. They will pay when the time comes,” Kılıçdaroğlu said on Dec. 17.
His party will struggle for these cases, he added.
Kılıçdaroğlu also spoke about the recent debate over the constitution, saying the CHP favored a change, but his party did not endorse a limited change. “I give open credit for [a change] if lasting democracy will come to the country. Do we change the coup law of Sept. 12, 1980, or not?” he asked.
The CHP leader did not attend the Şeb-i Aruz ceremonies on the grounds that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had delivered a political speech in last year’s ceremony.
On Sept. 1, 2014, the Istanbul Chief Prosecutor’s Office controversially ruled that there were no legal grounds for the prosecution of the 96 suspects, including Bilal Erdoğan, the president’s son, who were accused by prosecutors of bribery and corruption in the Dec. 25, 2013 probe.
The earlier and larger of the two corruption dossiers, meanwhile, was dropped by a newly assigned prosecutor in October 2014. Some 53 graft suspects, including former ministers’ sons, the former manager of Halkbank and a controversial Iranian-Azeri businessman, Reza Zarrab, were implicated in the Dec. 17 investigation.