İYİ Party expels deputy Özdağ over his claims regarding FETÖ

ANKARA

The İYİ (Good) Party expelled its Istanbul Deputy Ümit Özdağ on Nov.16 over a discipline procedure launched after the MP accused the party’s Istanbul Provincial Chair Buğra Kavuncu of links to FETÖ, a terror organization blamed for July 2016 coup attempt.

In a written statement, İYİ Party said they took this decision because Özdağ “involved in acts and actions that ignore the most basic principles such as human rights, democracy and the rule of law.”

The decision is taken also because he made “unfounded claims and repeating them through social media, written or visual media, against the members of the chair, the Presidential Board, the General Administrative Board, the Central Disciplinary Board, the Central Advisory and High Advisory Board, the deputies of the İYİ Party and the mayors.”

The party’s disciplinary board has unanimously decided that the investigated person will be removed from the İYİ party membership, including the membership on the Board of Founders, said the statement.

On Oct. 19, Özdağ claimed Kavuncu is a FETÖ member and that he has conveyed his concerns to party leader Meral Akşener.

“He had served as the deputy leader of Kazakhstan Turkish Businessman Association, the biggest non-governmental organization of the FETÖ abroad,” Özdağ said, informing that the institution was banned following the July 2016 coup attempt.

Özdağ did also claim that Kavuncu was the niece of Enver Altaylı, who was imprisoned on charges of being a member of the FETÖ.

Some members of the İYİ Party reacted against Özdağ and petitioned the headquarters to expel him from the party.

Ties between Özdağ and Akşener deteriorated in the aftermath of the İYİ Party’s general convention during which another prominent figure, Koray Aydın, reportedly used his influence to drop Özdağ and another dozen MPs from the party’s senior positions.

Most recently, Özdağ has claimed that İYİ Party took part in a joint constitution work with other opposition parties, including the People’s Democratic Party (HDP).