Government addicted to state of emergency, main opposition CHP says

ANKARA

AA photo

The Turkish government has become addicted to ruling the country under a state of emergency, main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) deputy leader Bülent Tezcan has said after Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım hinted at the extension of the emergency rule next week.

“Yıldırım has confirmed our July 20 hypothesis. They got used to ruling Turkey under the state of emergency. It has become like a drug addiction,” Tezcan said at a press conference on July 14.

His comments came after Yıldırım informed that his government will request the extension of the state of emergency early next week, probably on July 18 as the current one expires on July 19. 

“Of course, it will be lifted one day when conditions are appropriate. But talking about a specific date would be wrong. These are issues to be discussed and decided at the National Security Council [MGK],” Yıldırım had said.

The CHP has been criticizing the ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) post-coup measures for being oppressive, almost to an extent that can be defined as “a civil coup.” The CHP calls it the “July 20 coup,” when the first period of the state of emergency was announced last year. 

“We will continue to fight against July 20. The state of emergency should be lifted immediately,” Tezcan said. 
 

CHP requests to cancel July 15 report

CHP members in a parliamentary commission investigating the July 15, 2016, coup attempt have requested to cancel the panel’s final report, which cited accusations that the CHP was supporting the coup.

Filing their appeal to the parliament speaker’s office, the members vowed they would issue their own opinion about the final report.

The commission had concluded its final report on July 12 before sending it to the parliament speaker’s office. Different from the draft report issued in May, a section was added recently to the final report under the “politics” section, which included claims that the CHP was in agreement with the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ), widely believed to have orchestrated the foiled coup.

“The main opposition’s attitudes and behaviors that would serve the political aspirations of FETÖ have had an encouraging impact on FETÖ in the process leading up to the July 15 coup,” the report had claimed.