Main opposition CHP is acting along terrorist groups in ‘no’ campaign: President

ANKARA

DHA photo

The main opposition is acting along with terrorist groups in saying “no” to the constitutional amendments that will be voted on in an April 16 referendum, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said, accusing Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu of lying in his arguments against the charter. 

“Who says ‘no’ currently? The leader of the terrorist organization at İmralı [where the leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) is incarcerated] and the heads of the terrorists at Kandil [the PKK headquarters]. But right now, the head of the opposition is acting along with them. It is impossible to understand this,” Erdoğan said in Istanbul on March 29. 

“Now, the ones who are going to Europe to conduct the ‘no’ campaign are working with the extensions of the terrorist organization there. They are acting along with those who did not grant permission to my minister to fly over the country and imprisoned my female minister in a car, refusing to let her into the Netherlands,” he added.

Accusing Kılıçdaroğlu of lying, Erdoğan said the counter arguments of the opposition leader about the constitutional amendment did not reflect the reality.

“The April 16 criticisms of the main opposition party has nothing to do with reality. They have constructed a world of lies,” he said.

“They say the president will have the authority to annul the parliament. The president does not have the authority to annul the parliament. It is out of the question. These are all lies,” he said, adding that parliament’s authority to supervise the president would be strengthened.

“The parliament will have a serious authority to supervise the president with a certain amount of votes. Right now, the president can only be referred to the Supreme Court for treason. But with the new system, if the parliament can achieve the necessary majority, the president can be referred to the supreme court for any crime,” he said.

He also argued that the appointment of the members of the top judicial bodies would not be altered.

“The judiciary is not like what they say. The way the members of the Supreme Court were elected now, the way the Council of State members were elected, the way the members of the Constitutional Court members were elected will continue as it is,” he said.


‘Development despite the deadlocks of the system’

A new executive system outlined in constitutional amendments will pave the way for Turkey to achieve its goals more efficiently, he said, arguing that AKP has been successful in development “despite the deadlocks of the system.”

“Those who tried to trip us up, inhibiting us in all the projects we realized, all the steps we took, all the reforms we made over the last 14 years are illustrating these 14 years as a counter example to us. All those works were done despite all the obstacles they placed on us by using the deadlocks of the system. Whatever we have achieved, we did despite it,” he said. 

Giving an example from a previous crisis in Turkey’s political history, Erdoğan argued that the source of the crisis was “the deficiency of the system.”

“The most important cause of all those crises, chaos and sorrow that happened then is the deficiency of our executive system,” he said.

“We want to make the atmosphere of stability of the last 14 years become permanent. Let peace come!” he said.

“In the current system, we are working in compliance with the president, the prime minister and the government as a group who share the same ideals. But why shouldn’t we do it better, if we can go further?” he added.

“They formed a coalition government which did not last more than 16 months or even 25 days. There cannot be stability or trust there. Turkey has gotten over it. Now, there will be a new era,” he said.