Main opposition leader calls on Erdoğan to return ‘medal of courage’ given by Jewish lobby

ANKARA

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The leader of Turkey’s main opposition party has called on Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to return the “medal of courage” given to him by the American Jewish Committee (AJC) in 2004, in reaction to Israel’s offensive against Palestinians.

 “Be a man of your word for once: Take it off from your neck and return it!” Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the leader of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), said in a written statement on July 17, responding to Erdoğan’s allegations that Kılıçdaroğlu had condemned neither Israel nor Syria.

“I have condemned all who oppressed the people whoever they are. I have not applied a double standard like you,” the CHP leader added, recalling that Erdoğan and Bashar al-Assad had once gone on holiday together with their families.

Kılıçdaroğlu also claimed that the jet fuel of Israeli warplanes was provided by Turkey and asked Erdoğan to cut this supply.

The prime minister has frequently slammed the opposition for allegedly siding with Israel and Syria, while the opposition recalls the government’s past deals with the leaderships of both countries.

Kılıçdaroğlu again returned to the fact that Erdoğan has had to postpone his planned visit to Gaza three times in the last two years. “Remember what you said on April 14, 2013 about visiting Gaza. You won’t remember because remembering will not suit your work. You can’t dare to remember. Because U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told you not to go to Gaza on April 21, 2013. What did you do? You said Kerry’s statement was ‘not good,’” he said, adding that it had been two years since Erdoğan first vowed to go to Gaza.

“What you did was just lying and deceiving the people as usual. And after all that you want to be the president?” Kılıçdaroğlu said.