MHP strongly slams main opposition CHP for holding march

ANKARA

The head of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) has strongly criticized the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) for holding a march from Ankara to Istanbul after a lawmaker’s arrest, saying the party would be responsible if its members come face to face with counter-groups on the road. 

“I address the CHP,” MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli said in a series of tweets on June 15 over the CHP’s street action following the arrest of deputy Enis Berberoğlu, who was sentenced to 25 years in jail on June 14.

“Pull yourself together. If predictable or non-predictable incidents occur, neither you nor the nation will be able to handle them,” he said. 

“I wonder where you will meet if a counter-march starts from Istanbul?” he asked, blaming the party for acting before all judicial avenues are exhausted. 

“Justice is not a lost object that you can find on the road or a treasure that you can stumble on. Not being aware of this is ignorance,” he said. 

“The CHP says justice but winks at anarchy,” he said, claiming that the party was targeting democracy with the march.

CHP lawmakers left a parliamentary session on June 14 in protest against Berberoğlu’s arrest, prompting the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) group deputy chairman Bülent Turan to criticize the main opposition deputies.

“Leaving the parliament means doing wrong to the people who gave you duties. Leaving here is not an approach that would fit the spirit of a lawmaker. You said ‘yes’ to the lifting of immunities, but now you’re leaving,” Turan said in his speech, referring to the CHP’s backing of a government bid to lift the immunity from prosecution of all lawmakers in May 20, 2016.

Another statement was released from the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), from which 11 are under arrest, including its current and former co-chairs Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ, respectively. 

“As the HDP, we once again stress that we won’t bow down to the coup process against democratic political space and opposition parties. Those who override justice, who try to continue their ruling by imposing all types of illegality, will be those who need the basis of law and justice the most tomorrow. We condemn the arrest of Berberoğlu,” a statement released from the HDP read.