Erdoğan ‘disapproves’ of bullet-throwing at CHP chair

Mehmet Arslan - LOUISVILLE

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said he “disapproves” of the intimidating protest when a man threw a bullet at Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu during a funeral for two police officers killed in a June 7 attack in Istanbul’s Vezneciler neighborhood.

Still, Erdoğan criticized Kılıçdaroğlu for “inciting” the masses.

“Of course, we would never desire, want something like this to happen. I wish something like this never happened. I wish there was no placing of a bullet there,” Erdoğan told reporters on June 11, during his journey back from the United States where he had gone to attend the funeral ceremony of boxing legend Muhammad Ali.

“There is no way of approving what was done,” the president added, while still criticizing Kılıçdaroğlu for “disregarding the sensitivities of society.”

“Nonetheless, a politician should know what to say and where. Incitements can lead to reactions. There is the topic of action-reaction,” he said, adding it was natural for society to react “if you disregard social sensitivities at a time when one security official is martyred after another.”

“That there are protests in a number of places is, to me, not a cause but a consequence, a result,” he said. 
Kılıçdaroğlu was targeted in an intimidating protest during a June 8 funeral, as a wreath bearing his name was torn apart before a man threw a bullet at him.  

The protests came after the CHP leader said deputies from his party visited convicts, including militants of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the outlawed Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C), as part of a Parliamentary Monitoring Committee on Human Rights – a visit that included deputies from all political parties represented in parliament, including the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). 

“I also listened to his statements on TV,” Erdoğan said. “His statements would have been softer if he could have better conveyed that what he meant by ‘We visit PKK convicts and DHKP-C convicts,’ were visits by members of a parliamentary human rights commission on prisons,” the president added.

“When he said they visit as a political party, then his statements were used as a provocation,” he said, expressing his wishes that the main opposition would “pull itself together.”

“That there are protests in a number of places is, to me, not a cause but a consequence, a result,” he said. 
Erdoğan had previously slammed Kılıçdaroğlu for his remarks on visiting convicts, saying his would “leave it to the nation” to give “his lesson” to the CHP chair. 

“What is this? You are visiting [members of] the DHKP-C,” Erdoğan said.

“I leave this to the judgment of my people’s will. I believe my nation will give them their lesson in the most ideal and pleasant way,” Erdoğan said, addressing a group of neighborhood heads in Ankara.

Kılıçdaroğlu held a press conference after the bullet was thrown at him and lashed out against state authorities for failing to take safety measures and releasing the perpetrators afterwards. 

“Do I need to get killed for [the suspects] to be arrested?” Kılıçdaroğlu blasted, slamming the prosecutor for not taking responsibility. “At least refer them to a court and let a judge decide,” he added, underlining that “everybody knows throwing a bullet is a death threat.”