Opposition leader Bahçeli says Turkish PM has become the ‘Twitter police’

ANKARA

Devlet Bahçeli criticized Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s handling of the Gezi protests, saying the latter had tried to become the 'Twitter police.' DHA Photo

Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli has criticized Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s reaction to the Gezi protests, saying the latter had tried to become the “Twitter police.”

“The widespread communication technologies have been shaping the cultural structure and the way to do politics,” Bahçeli said today at his party’s parliamentary group meeting. “But Erdoğan has no piece of it. We face a person who puts his interests ahead of everybody else.”

Bahçeli said Erdoğan did not listen to anyone. “He rebuked the teachers. He scolded the students. He tried to become a Twitter police. This is the final stage of hubris. It’s been revealed that our country being an example is a lie. The party that does not accept democracy has nothing more to offer,” he said.

The MHP leader also said Erdoğan provoked people over their differences. “The conflict of believers and non-believers has been supported,” he added. “He came down on people on the issues of headscarf wearing women and others, those who have three children or don’t, those who drink or don’t. The provocation campaigns are still in progress.”

Bahçeli said Erdoğan considered everyone pursuing their rights as a threat and contradicted his earlier remarks on democracy and rights.

“The prime minister has managed to become a political disaster,” he added. “He should open the way for democracy before it is too late. Turkey is not dependent on Erdoğan, if he cannot do it, he should go.”