Turkey's main opposition leader criticizes ruling party over graft allegations

ESKİŞEHİR – Anadolu Agency

AA Photo

Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu criticized the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) over the graft allegations during a meeting in Eskişehir on Nov. 16.

“I asked 77 million people: Did you see a government that can account for the taxes you have paid over the past 12 years? If you did not, then you have to think about it,” said Kılıçdaroğlu also vowing not to forget about the graft probes from Dec. 17 and Dec. 25 of 2013. 

He also criticized the prime minister’s adviser Etyen Mahçupyan’s remarks saying “the Islamist community [in Turkey] is aware of the corruption.”

“Mr. [Ahmet] Davutoğlu’s adviser Mahçupyan says ‘Islamists are aware of the corruption.’ I am speaking to the Islamists that he mentioned: I do not doubt your faith and I always respect it. I don’t understand this part: corruption is a grave sin and those people are excluded from the society. Then why did you vote for [corrupt people]?” Kılıçdaroğlu said, criticizing the AKP and those who voted for it for the past decade.

“On TV we watched a spaceship land on a comet. But in Turkey, you see where the taxes are used. We built a 1,000-room palace for the mister [Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan],” Kılıçdaroğlu added.