Opposition leaders warn government against ‘revenge operation’

ISTANBUL

Peoples’ Democracy Party (HDP) co-leader Selahattin Demirtaş speaks at a meeting with women’s organizations. AA Photo

Opposition party figures have declared the mass arrest of police officers in an ostensible operation into the “parallel state” to be nothing more than a “revenge operation,” with Peoples’ Democracy Party (HDP) co-leader Selahattin Demirtaş warning the prime minister over the probe.

“Handcuffs should not be used as punishment, as a tool for exposure,” said Demirtaş in reference to police officers spotted with handcuffs when detained as part of operations targeting the “parallel state.”

“It does not make a difference whether they are police officers or Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) suspects, defendants of the Ergenekon case or a thief. You should not punish any detained individual by putting him in handcuffs in public,” Demirtaş said July 25 while speaking at a meeting with women’s organizations.

“This is contrary to criminal law,” he said, noting that the act was the manifestation of a political attitude against the government’s enemies.

Recent operations were being conducted with a sense of revenge, Demirtaş stated, noting that there was no fair judicial process in either the Ergenekon case or the KCK trial.

Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu also stressed that the operations targeting the “parallel state” were in fact targeting police officers “who revealed corruption and bribery [within the ruling Justice and Development Party, AKP].” “This is a revenge operation against [those who stand up against the AKP],” he added.

Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) deputy parliamentary group chair Oktay Vural questioned Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s remarks at which he said “perpetrators of eavesdropping were surfacing,” noting that he had initially called them a “montage.”