Gov’t uses emergency rule to fight opposition, not FETÖ: CHP

ANKARA

The government is using emergency rule to crack down on the oppositional groups and dissident voices and not to fight the coup plotters, the main opposition leader has said, slamming the ruling party’s intention to extend the state of emergency for the sixth time.

“The state of emergency will be extended. The parliament has long been bypassed,” Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the leader of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) told his parliamentary group on Jan. 9.

“They told me they were planning to use the state of emergency for a very short period when they first declared it [in mid-July 2016 after the coup attempt],” Kılıçdaroğlu said, recalling his conversation with Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım in the aftermath of the coup attempt on July 15, 2016.

The government first declared the state of emergency on July 21, 2016. Government spokesman and deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdağ announced on Jan. 8 the government’s decision to extend the state of emergency for another term in a bid to continue to fight against the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ), blamed for the coup.

“Why are they extending it? If it is about fighting FETÖ, then do it. Has anyone tried to stop you from fighting FETÖ? They do the complete opposite. They fight against the opposition and not against FETÖ,” Kılıçdaroğlu said.

The government is also trying to crack down on media outlets, journalists and heads of civil society with dissident voices, the CHP leader said, claiming that Turkey has already become an open-air prison.

Slamming justice

The CHP leader also slammed supreme judicial bodies, particularly the Judges and Prosecutors Council (HSK), accusing the body of acting as the judges of the presidential palace.

“They change the judges who are assigned to look into compensation cases Erdoğan files against me. They do it over night. Whatever you do, I will fight until the end,” Kılıçdaroğlu said.

“If people are charged with a crime by those who run the country and then the justice system acts upon [punishment], then one can no longer talk about justice in that country. That means the end of justice,” he said, calling on judges to live up to their honor.

‘Hitler model’

People need to be able to trust in justice in any country in order to feel secure, Kılıçdaroğlu said, emphasizing the independence and impartiality of judicial bodies. If prosecutors initiate legal action upon the instruction of those who are in the government that would best be called a “Hitler model,” Kılıçdaroğlu stressed.