Opposition leader claims group within Turkish gov’t plotting to shut CHP down

ANKARA

Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has claimed that there is a plot to close down his party, while stressing that Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu is unaware of the plot hatched by a group within Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MİT).

“We know very well that preparations are underway for that. The claim is true,” Kılıçdaroğlu said, when reminded of allegations floated by “Fuat Avni,” the controversial whistleblower who claimed that the CHP would be closed down.

“We know that preparations are underway, and we know who are making these preparations. We know that a book has been published and this book will be put on the market. We are waiting. We will hold this to account before the judiciary,” he added in an interview with private broadcaster CNN Türk late on March 4.

A group close to the government is involved in this plot, the CHP leader claimed.

“This is being done bypassing Davutoğlu. We know all of these details. From here, I’m calling on the MİT. As its name implies, it is the ‘National Intelligence Organization.’ It has all kinds of information about the country’s intelligence, it may keep individuals under surveillance, for example, but it must be ‘national.’ If it assumes a policy adjusted to the government, then its title would not be ‘national’ but rather ‘gestapo,’” Kılıçdaroğlu said.

During the same interview, the CHP leader was reminded of news reports printed in pro-government newspapers last month, which claimed that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s daughter Sümeyye was being targeted by the movement of U.S.-based Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen and also the CHP.
The reports stated that the Gülen movement and the CHP have together hired a hit man to assassinate Sümeyye Erdoğan.

“I have neither heard such crazy talk, nor I have encountered such an accusation in my life. This is a plot. There is a group within the MİT that is directly serving the government. If they continue to do so, we will announce their names,” Kılıçdaroğlu said.

HDP: Kılıçdaroğlu would not be talking through his hat

The CHP leader’s remarks resounded at parliament early on March 5, as General Assembly-level debates on the government’s controversial domestic security bill are still ongoing.

Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Deputy Parliamentary Group Chair İdris Baluken first brought the issue to the agenda by referring to Kılıçdaroğlu’s remarks.

“We know that the leader of a political party which receives millions of votes would not be talking through his hat. If there is such a quest, we condemn this quest. The minister needs to inform the General Assembly on this matter,” Baluken said.

CHP Deputy Parliamentary Group Chair Engin Altay confirmed his leader’s remarks. “We will publicly clarify it, when the time comes. The government doesn’t have such chance for clarifying it,” Altay said.
In response, AKP Deputy Parliamentary Group Chair Ahmet Aydın stressed that his party had always been against party closures, no matter which party it is.

In response, AKP Deputy Parliamentary Group Chair Ahmet Aydın stressed that his party had always been against party closures, no matter which party it is.

“We display our will against closure of any party. The CHP is a rooted party of this land,” Aydın said, calling on Kılıçdaroğlu to share whatever information or documents he has on the issue with the public.

For his part, Nationalist Movement Party’s (MHP) Deputy Parliamentary Group Chair Oktay Vural recalled that there had also been similar claims about his party.

“We know that those who cannot tolerate the presence of the MHP at parliament and who set up wiretapping and surveillance teams for the MHP are annoyed at nationalism and the MHP’s struggle for democracy,” Vural said.

Çiçek speaks of ‘very exceptional situations’
 
For his part, Parliament Speaker Cemil Çiçek strictly ruled out the possibility of a party closure.
“Party closures have been left behind now. They are remnants of a very old era. The closure of parties can never comply with democracy,” Çiçek said on March 5.

“This way can be resorted to in very exceptional situations, but Turkey has closed so many parties that there are no parts of society left that haven’t had their party closed,” he said.