CHP chair accuses government of 'aiding and abetting the PKK'

ZONGULDAK

DHA photo

Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has accused the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) government of “aiding and abetting” the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), while commenting on an ongoing row over a constitutional amendment to lift parliamentary immunities. Kılıçdaroğlu claimed Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu would not dare lift his own immunity out of fear of facing criminal charges. 

“I am saying it openly and clearly: All immunities, except for chair immunities, should be lifted,” the CHP leader said during a visit to the Çaycuma district of the Black Sea province of Zonguldak. Kılıçdaroğlu stressed that his approach to the lifting of immunities was in stark contrast with that of the prime minister, who declines to lift his own immunity.

“Why is Ahmet Davutoğlu afraid of lifting his immunity? Because he had been aiding and abetting terror organizations,” he alleged.

“People distributed Kalashnikovs [assault rifles] standing on top of trucks in a district [in Turkey]. They gave an order to the governor, saying, ‘No one will touch these people.’ Should we not ask [the government] to account for this?” Kılıçdaroğlu asked.

While the CHP chair did not name the aforementioned district, sources from the party told Hürriyet Daily News that the incident took place in the Nusaybin district in the southeastern province of Mardin, where operations against the PKK have been continuing since March 14. 

The CHP had previously filed a criminal complaint against the prime minister, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, National Intelligence Organization (MİT) chief Hakan Fidan and other senior officials for “aiding and abetting a terrorist organization” during the peace process aimed at ending the thirty-year conflict between the PKK and Turkey’s security forces. 

In his complaint, CHP deputy chair Bülent Tezcan said the PKK’s “activities of transferring and piling up weaponry, both in rural areas and in urban centers, were openly overlooked,” recalling that only eight of 290 requests to conduct anti-terror operations by the Turkish Armed Forces received a positive response from governors during the period.

During his speech at Çaycuma, Kılıçdaroğlu also criticized the AKP for the resumption of violence and the dramatic increase in terror attacks despite “taking over a terror-free Turkey 14 years ago.”