Leftists, Atatürk supporters targeted in ‘witch hunt’ since Turkey’s coup attempt: CHP

ANKARA

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A report prepared by the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) has said the government’s “witch hunt” in the aftermath of the failed July 15 coup attempt has targeted leftists and supporters of the founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. 

The report prepared by CHP Deputy Chair Veli Ağbaba said new religious movements and new “parallel state structures” are currently being assigned to the posts vacated by suspended officials in the aftermath of the coup attempt, believed to have been masterminded by the movement of U.S.-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen.

“New cults and new parallel structures are being built in place of FETÖ,” the report read, daily Cumhuriyet reported on Sept. 6, referring to the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ). 

“The suspension and dismissal measures of public servants suspected of having links to the coup attempt have started to turn into a witch hunt,” the report also stated. 

The government is “taking advantage of the situation,” suspending or dismissing leftists, social democrats, Atatürk supporters and people belonging to different faiths, the report added.

“As the CHP, we defend the removal of FETÖ members, coup plotters and all who wants to make the state functionless. But in this process we see that a lot of innocent citizens, leftists who don’t have any connection to FETÖ, social democrats, revolutionaries, Atatürk supporters and citizens from different faith groups, are being suspended or dismissed,” the report also stated. 

The decrees announced as part of the state of emergency measures were also mentioned in the report, which said the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) “uses the decrees to strengthen its governance.”
Speaking about the report, Ağbaba said “the ones who were previously together with FETÖ are now attacking workers.”

“As the CHP, we are against the attacks on our workers using the state of emergency to take advantage of the coup attempt, just as much as we are against coups,” he added.