Main opposition urges all to draw lessons from ‘legendary’ Gezi action

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu (R) shakes hands with Kyriakos Loukakis, the Greek ambassador to Ankara, during a meeting at his party headquarters. DHA photo

Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu strongly urged Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to embrace all the people of the country, not only his party’s supporters, and appealed to him to respond to democratic demands voiced during the Gezi Park protests.

“We are facing a new incident which the government couldn’t suppress regardless of all kinds of violence and repression. Environmental and urban consciousness has turned into a nationwide reaction,” Kılıçdaroğlu said on June 14 in a speech delivered at a meeting of Turkey City Council which was hosted at the CHP headquarters.

“Now, there are lessons we have to learn from the legendary Gezi Park demonstrations. How come a local environmental protest turned into a nationwide crisis? No doubt, the government played a big role by using violence against the society who was using their democratic rights. In other words, the government’s committing a crime affected the incidents,” he maintained.

According to the CHP leader, there were many reasons behind people’s reaction against the government and gave examples such as: The prime minister and his colleagues have contaminated Istanbul’s silhouette.

Süleymaniye’s [Mosque] beautiful scenery is going downhill sharply. The city’s esthetic and cultural look has been shattered by the shopping malls that were owned by the premier’s friends. “Gezi Park demonstrations are against the AKP government’s avidity and urbanism without any rights or justice,” Kılıçdaroğlu said, and directly addressed Erdoğan as he said, “Stop disregarding with whoever doesn’t vote for you.”