MHP leader tells CHP Ankara mayoral candidate to withdraw from elections
KIRIKKALE / ANKARA
Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli has called on Mansur Yavaş, the main opposition Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) Ankara mayoral candidate, to retreat in the upcoming March 31 elections amid recent claims about a legal suit Yavaş is involved in.
“In my belief, Yavaş announcing his retreat for his respect for the CHP is the high road he needs to take. He should say that he has taken this decision until the investigation concerning him is finalized,” Bahçeli told a group of reporters before his party’s rally in the Central Anatolian province of Kırıkkale on March 13.
“Both in terms of the continuation of his future politics and the CHP, with the completion of the legal process, Yavaş stepping down will be most beneficial,” he added.
Bahçeli also stressed that Yavaş has a high chance of becoming the victor in the upcoming elections and it is not appropriate that he plays the “I am being framed” card.
“Let’s say that Yavaş is proved to be innocent and that him being framed is proved. In such a situation, the court’s decision will relieve the nation’s conscience. Otherwise, a different situation will occur,” he said.
The MHP leader also said these disputes will “exhaust” the CHP and that Kılıçdaroğlu’s “insistence” on endorsing Yavaş as the Ankara mayoral candidate needs to be analyzed.
“How can Yavaş be so sure of his victory that he implies such a plot? If the same thing happened to the MHP, I would have immediately called on the mayoral candidate to resign,” he added.
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Meanwhile, ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) spokesperson Ömer Çelik carried on making claims against Yavaş and said the candidate was “expressing false statements.”
“In his statements, he says that we exhibited an attitude of bias in relation to the person he was disputed with. We do not know this person. We are not taking sides between this person and Mansur Yavaş,” he said.
Yavaş has refuted all allegations against him on March 12 and said his rivals are attempting to steamroll him out of the local elections slated for March 31.
“Those who understood that they cannot win in a democratic election are trying to tarnish my reputation. This is the most disgraceful election campaign our political history has ever witnessed,” he said.
“Are you thinking about acquitting this impostor who is facing trial on charges of child abuse?” he added, referring to businessman Necmettin Kesgin, who Yavaş accuses of taking payments from the company he was a lawyer at and later fleeing. Kesgin is accused of involvement in a child abuse scandal and has been charged with preparing forged documents and checks previously, Yavaş said in a statement earlier this week.
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