MHP slams Erdoğan over ‘fake’ assassination reports on his daughter

ANKARA

AA Photo

Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Devlet Bahçeli has lashed out at President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for “fabricating” assassination claims targeting his daughter in order to pave the way for her entry into active politics.

“It seems this person has no intention to smarten up and act wisely. So we will speak the language he understands, we will speak bluntly … There is no need for [Recep Tayyip] Erdoğan to opt for such sickening ways if he wants his daughter to enter politics,” Bahçeli said in an address to his parliamentary group on Feb. 24.

Accusing Erdoğan and the pro-government media of using the “victimhood card” before the June 7 elections, he cited news reports printed in two newspapers last week claiming that Erdoğan’s daughter Sümeyye was being targeted by the movement of U.S.-based Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen and the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP). The reports suggested that the Gülen movement and the CHP had together hired a hitman to assassinate Sümeyye Erdoğan.

Another issue that Bahçeli touched on was the ongoing debate at parliament on the controversial security package, as he criticized the government for “weakening the credibility of parliament” for forcing it to work under extraordinary conditions.

“The AKP is closed to any sort compromise and dialogue. The AKP is sabotaging parliament’s safety,” he said.

Bahçeli also recalled that the MHP voted in favor of some articles of the security package after necessary amendments, but was still against much of it.

“We believe that giving governors powers equal to judges and prosecutors is wrong. Another problematic clause is the one about giving the police the right to pre-emptively detain for 48 hours without a prosecutor’s order,” he said. 

The MHP head also slammed the government over the evacuation operation of Turkish troops from the Tomb of Süleyman Şah inside Syria, describing it as “cowardly.”

“Why is Turkey escaping from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant [ISIL]?” Bahçeli asked, recalling that it marked the first time since 1922 that Turkish troops have withdrawn from Turkish soil.