CHP leader challenges PM to ‘show courage’ and debate him on TV

ANKARA

HÜRRİYET photo

Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has challenged Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu to “show courage” and engage in a debate on TV, after the latter accused the CHP of “supporting terrorism.”

“If you so wish, if you have self-confidence, bring along your staff and let’s appear on television together,” Kılıçdaroğlu said in his party’s parliamentary group meeting on March 29.

“You are occupying the grand post of the Prime Ministry. You need to have self-confidence … Confront me, let’s sit and settle which one of us is with the people,” he said, challenging Davutoğlu to debate their respective positions regarding the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). 

The CHP head claimed that the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) was involved in actions that supported the PKK in recent years, which had led to the current violent impasse. He said the AKP had not taken action against courts formed by the PKK and also prevented the security authorities from taking measures against the outlawed group. 

Kılıçdaroğlu also alleged that the AKP had conducted a “major propaganda campaign” in favor of the PKK during the collapsed peace process, when it became “almost a criminal act” to describe it as a terrorist organization. 

The remarks were in response to Davutoğlu’s speech in the western province of Manisa on March 25, when the prime minister asked whether Kılıçdaroğlu was “with the nation or with the terrorists.”