Opposition leader Bahçeli slams governors, warns ‘they will pay’

ANKARA

Nationalist Movement Party leader Devlet Bahçeli. Cihan photo

Devlet Bahçeli, leader of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), has slammed governors, especially the governor of Adana, over their relations between people and government.

“The AKP [Justice and Development Party] Governor has been terrorizing Adana like an insane person,” Bahçeli told his lawmakers Nov. 12 at a parliamentary group meeting. “Prime Minister [Recep Tayyip] Erdoğan’s government should apologize to the people of Adana and do what is necessary,” Bahçeli added, referring to the latest spat surrounding Adana Governor Hüseyin Avni Coş.

Coş was criticized after he called a protester a “p*mp,” after the protester shouted “God damn you” at him on Nov. 10. Ten people were detained upon the governor’s instructions. All were released Nov. 11, with nine of them receiving 186 Turkish Lira fines.

Bahçeli said governors were working as if they were AKP officials. “As the prime minister raises the bar of insults, those bureaucrats who out-Herod him have maximized pressure on the citizens,” Bahçeli said. “A revenge mentality, which can only be seen in the Ba’ath regime and invasion forces, has lost all its sensitivity. But the bureaucrats who advocate the government will pay dearly when the AKP loses post.
Let’s see what Erdoğan, whom they now obey like slaves, will do for them then.”