CHP submits bill to declare Dec 17 ‘national anti-corruption day’

ANKARA

CHP members in 81 provinces protested the decision to abort the corruption investigation on Oct. 20 by leaving black wreaths in front of city courts. AA Photo

A lawmaker from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) has submitted a bill to Parliament to declare Dec. 17 national “anti-corruption day” in Turkey, in reference to Dec. 17, 2013, the day when the first corruption probe hit headlines.

CHP Istanbul deputy Mahmut Tanal said in the bill that the government should declare Dec. 17 a national holiday in order to show its stance against corruption to the public.

He added that the graft probe had severely damaged the public’s confidence in the government and legal arrangements were needed to regain this trust.

On Oct. 18 ,CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu had also sarcastically called on the government to declare the week of Dec. 17-25 as the “Week of the Thieves.”

Ekrem Aydıner, a prosecutor from the anti-terror and organized crime unit of Istanbul Chief Prosecutor’s Office, recently decided to drop the case against 53 graft suspects, including former ministers’ sons, the former manager of Halkbank and a controversial Iranian-Azeri businessman. According to the semi-official Anadolu Agency, Aydıner cited problems with evidence and said proof of criminal elements or conspiracies were not discovered.

CHP local offices in all of Turkey's 81 provinces protested the decision to abort the corruption investigation on Oct. 20 by leaving black wreaths in front of the city’s courts.

“This decision might have ‘zeroed’ the public’s expectation of justice. But it is impossible to zero our social memory and conscience,” CHP Ankara head Necati Yılmaz said.

“Corruption and bribery have been rendered ordinary with this decision. This makes way for new corruption, and those who participated in bribery or are willing to do so have been encouraged," Yılmaz added.

Meanwhile the chair of the parliamentary commission to investigate the corruption claims has said the dropping the investigation that forced four government ministers to step down earlier in the year will not hamper its work.

“Nothing will stop us. We will deal with our own business. We will fulfill whatever our investigation requires,” Hakkı Köylü, a deputy of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) who chairs the investigation commission, told Anadolu Agency on Oct. 20.