CHP head files criminal complaint against mafia leader over threats

ANKARA

Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has filed a criminal complaint against Alaattin Çakıcı, a convicted mafia leader who has insulted and threatened him in an open letter.

Kılıçdaroğlu’s lawyer, Celal Çelik, demanded a prosecution and public case against Çakıcı in an appeal sent to a chief public prosecutor’s office, indicating that the letter signed by him was a direct threat against the CHP leader.

Çakıcı, who was released from prison this summer due to a partial amnesty law, which was supported by the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), harshly criticized Kılıçdaroğlu who criticized MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli at his parliamentary group meeting on Nov. 17.

His letter contained threats and harsh insults against the CHP leader.

“When I criticize [President Recep Tayyip] Erdoğan, Bahçeli reacts. When I criticize Bahçeli, the leader of the mafia replies. How did Turkey come to this point? In a country where justice does not exist, the state can itself turn into a criminal body,” he said at a joint press conference with Future Party leader Ahmet Davutoğlu on Nov. 18.

Kılıçdaroğlu said he did not take Çakıcı’s threats seriously, repeating that he would be addressing Bahçeli.

Davutoğlu, a former prime minister, for his part, stressed that the government should first act against such threats, “No political party leader can be threatened. This is a test for everybody. If the political climate will change in Turkey, we will learn to talk to each other.”

In the meantime, CHP party fellows across the country have shown reaction against the threats by Çakıcı, holding demonstrations in both Istanbul and Ankara to denounce the mafia leader’s letter.

In 1995, Çakıcı was convicted of instigating the murder of his wife in front of his stepson, Onur Özbizerdik. He was put on trial when he returned to Turkey and found guilty of instigating his ex-wife’s murder and sentenced to 19 years in prison.

He is also convicted of several crimes including organizing and leading a crime syndicate for the purpose of generating profit, instigating murder, instigating injury, and insulting Erdoğan.