Dissenting former AKP deputy İdris Bal gets irreverent crossword taunt

ISTANBUL

The ex-AKP, who said receiving lot of support after strong reactions inside his party, was the object of a taunt by daily Yeni Akit. DAILY NEWS photo, Selahattin SÖNMEZ

İdris Bal could well have expected the harsh reaction from ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) officials following his resignation from the party, but he perhaps would not have imagined becoming the object of an irreverent crossword puzzle taunt.
 
Yeni Akit, a radical conservative daily known for its staunch pro-government stance and pungent attacks on the opposition, used its crossword pages on Dec. 1 to send Bal an usual but characteristically acrimonious message over his dissenting views.
 
Many Turkish dailies issue crosswords every day, most of which contain the picture of a famous celebrity in the middle of the page, accompanied as a clue to one of the questions.

In line with the traditional crossword format, Yeni Akit’s crossword used a picture of Bal, instead of a more easy to identify celebrity. However, the related question did not directly ask for the name of the person on the picture, but rather gave the following cryptic clue: “The AKP deputy who betrayed his party.”
 
Bal had made a number of critical statements regarding the government's stance on the Gezi protests and co-ed housing, but the last straw was apparently his condemnation of the move to scrap test prep schools (dershanes). He was sent to the AKP's joint disciplinary committee over the comments, but he preempted his likely expulsion from the party by announcing his resignation on Nov. 30. 
 
On Dec. 1, the AKP’s deputy head and spokesperson, Hüseyin Çelik, accused Bal of acting too individually. “In every party there is a concept of ‘internal discipline’ regarding compliance with the decisions taken,” Çelik said, adding that Bal had failed to act accordingly.