Opposition asks PM: ‘Are you high?’

ANKARA

AA Photo.

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu’s suggestion that objecting to the government’s controversial security bill amounted to supporting the use of cheap synthetic drug “bonzai,” as well as Molotov cocktails in demonstrations, has been slammed by Turkey’s opposition parties.

“Slandering through the use of Molotovs and bonsai? Either you said this after taking drugs yourself, or you said it as a threat. Mr. Davutoğlu, you are actually a polite person. My advice to you would be to not use such words and not get involved in such swordplay with us,” Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli said on Feb. 17, addressing his party’s parliamentary group.

Fiercely defending the security bill on Feb. 16, Davutoğlu criticized the opposition parties and said they “are almost defending bonzai.”

However, speaking at the parliamentary group meeting of his party on Feb. 17, Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Co-Chair Selahattin Demirtaş said Davutoğlu has “constantly been lying” about the real motives behind the security bill.

“Here is our open proposal: If you are sincere on bonzai and Molotov cocktails, then let’s adopt two related articles on these issues in one day. But your concern is not bonsai. In fact, your own problem is bonzai. Apparently, you are overdosing [on bonzai],” Demirtaş said.

The use of the cheap synthetic drug bonzai has been spreading rapidly in Turkey in recent years.