Turkish PM accuses main opposition leader of 'nepotism'

NEVŞEHİR

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has said he has documents proving that the main opposition Republican People Party's (CHP) head Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu engaged in "nepotism" during his tenure as the head of Turkey's Social Security Institution.

Speaking at the ruling Justice and Development Party's (AKP) provincial congress in the Central Anatolian province of Nevşehir on Dec. 13, Davutoğlu claimed that Kılıçdaroğlu had employed 3,209 people without them taking the required exam, and awarded government contracts to "scores of his fellows."

He then brandished two papers that he claims prove Kılıçdaroğlu's abuse of power during his time as the head of the SSK. One of the documents is an inspection report bearing the signature of Kılıçdaroğlu himself, Davutoğlu added.

The "nepotism" debate was triggered when CHP Deputy Chair Haluk Koç disclosed a list of hundreds of relatives and friends of Cabinet members and AKP lawmakers who have been appointed to state positions without passing the required exam. Kılıçdaroğlu later challenged counterarguments from AKP executives suggesting that he had shown favoritism at the SSK in the 1990s.

The CHP head took to Twitter to respond to Davutoğlu's latest accusations. "I throw all their corruption in their faces and the only answer they can give is to accuse us of being coup plotters. The only coup plotter in this country is this government that steals from its people," Kılıçdaroğlu said in a tweet on Dec. 13.