Turkish PM slams opposition over Uludere politics

ISTANBUL- Hürriyet Daily News

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan yesterday defended the government’s stance regarding the killing of 34 civilians at Uludere in December, while accusing the opposition parties of making politics over dead bodies.

“I openly declare it here: There is an ongoing policy of exploitation in Turkey over the Uludere incident,” Erdoğan said, speaking at his ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) Istanbul provincial congress, held at the Türk Telekom Arena. “I am also openly declaring this here: The campaign based on the Uludere incident is an international defamation campaign. The PKK [Kurdistan Workers’ Party] terrorist organization is involved in it. The BDP [Peace and Democracy Party] is involved in it. The CHP [Republican People’s Party] is [as well], and so are certain media outlets.”

Uludere victims
Erdoğan harshly criticized the BDP’s lawmakers for making politics “over the Uludere victims.”

“Those who asked ‘which animal gave that order,’ who danced wildly with joy right after the Uludere incident, who opposed the descent of [militants] from the mountains and who do not even deserve to be called as such are necrophiles. They are lovers of the dead; in other words, they need dead bodies for politics,” Prime Minister Erdoğan told thousands of supporters attending the congress.

The Uludere incident is under both administrative and judicial investigation, Erdoğan said.

“A mistake that made us all sad occurred at Uludere, and the state has been doing whatever is necessary for those people hit by that mistake,” the prime minister said. “Some people do not want to understand, but there is no cover-up.”