Ruling party MP apologizes over tweet insulting one of the founders of Turkish Republic

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A ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) deputy has caused consternation by retweeting an insulting post about former President İsmet İnönü, one of the founders of the Turkish Republic, triggering reactions even from her own fellow party members.

Tülay Babuşçu, a deputy representing the western province of Balıkesir, shared another Twitter user’s message with the title “The friend of the Byzantines, traitor İnönü” on Feb. 26, with a note accusing İnönü of betrayal over the Lausanne Treaty of 1923, the founding treaty of modern Turkey.

The statement shared by Babuşçu accused İnönü of treason “for agreeing to grant the Anzac region (Arı Burnu) to the British Empire” during World War I.

The issue of Turkey’s borders has become a heated topic after the AKP government was accused of abandoning Turkish soil with the recent Şah Süleyman operation into northern Syria.

After sparking heavy criticism on social media and from opposition parties, Babuşçu deleted her tweet and apologized for sharing it in parliament.

“I present my apologizes to both the Republican People’s Party [CHP] and Mr. İsmet İnönü, one of the founders of our parliament and the Republic, about a retweet I made recently without realizing its content,” she said, addressing parliament on Feb. 26.

“I really didn’t have any negative intentions and it was caused by recklessness,” she added.
İnönü’s grandson, the mayor of Istanbul’s Şişli district, Hayri İnönü, was among those who took to Twitter to slam Babuşçu over the incident.

“They keep making snipes about İnönü because they cannot do it for Atatürk. I dare them to target Atatürk!” he told daily Hürriyet.

AKP deputy Babuşçu had made headlines recently with other controversial comments, declaring “the return of Ottoman rule” amid President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s welcoming of international guests at the gargantuan new presidential palace, accompanied by a costumed retinue of 16 warriors in January.

“Magnificent wisdom... The wisdom of our esteemed president. The 90-year-long commercial break of a 600-year-old empire is now over,” she had said at the time.