Opposition in Turkey hoping for chaos, says AKP official
ISTANBUL - Daily News with wires
The ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) deputy chairman Bülent Gedikli is seen speaking at a party meeting in the western province of Çanakkale. DHA Photo
A senior official from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has accused main opposition leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu and French President Nicolas Sarkozy of spearheading efforts at home and abroad to destabilize Turkey.“There are people who are trying to create chaos in Turkey. There is one choir inside Turkey and another abroad. Sarkozy is the conductor of the choir abroad and the head of the main opposition is the conductor of the one at home. Their melodies may seem different but they are singing the same song. They are not in unison, but they are trying everything to create chaos,” AKP deputy chairman Bülent Gedikli told Anatolia news agency yesterday.
The outcry over the verdict in the Hrant Dink murder case is being manipulated as part of efforts to foment instability and discredit the government, Gedikli said, slamming Kılıçdaroğlu for being at the forefront of the campaign.
“Those who are marching for Hrant Dink may naturally look for an [illegal] organization behind the murder. We have no objections to that. The ruling has not satisfied anybody. But there is an effort to use this to tarnish the government,” he said.
“They are trying to manufacture another Susurluk. They had better not bother – a Susurluk cannot be made up out of it,” he said in reference to the northwestern town of Susurluk, whose name has became a synonym to describe collusion between state officials, politicians and the underworld since a 1996 car crash there in which a police chief, a pro-state Kurdish lawmaker and a fugitive hit man were found travelling together.
“The government has done its part in uncovering the Dink murder. Those who are saying it has not are trying to distort the reality,” he said.
In further remarks, Gedikli praised the state of the Turkish economy and said the AKP government was ready to share its expertise.
Pro-Armenian slogans
In related comments, Labor Minister Faruk Çelik voiced discontent with the slogans demonstrators had shouted since Dink’s murder, the most prominent of which is “We are all Hrant. We are all Armenian.”
In a written statement, Çelik said: “One does not require a new identity to condemn the murder. Being a human is enough. We do not all need to be Armenians. While trying to show empathy to some people, we have to refrain from rhetoric hurting others.”
Referring to a French bill designed to outlaw the denial of the Armenian “genocide,” the minister said “it was the day for unity” at a time when “those who cannot swallow Turkey’s progress are trying to lynch history with parliamentary decisions.”
