Opposition MHP head Bahçeli slams CHP leader over justice march ‘provocation’ claims

ANKARA

Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli has slammed main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu for suggesting that some groups linked to the MHP could be used to target the ongoing justice march from Ankara to Istanbul.

“Kılıçdaroğlu is reporting a provocation. He said [Turkish ultranationalist] Ülkücüs will be used for this provocation. He is obviously foolish for saying this. He is completely soaked in lies,” Bahçeli posted on his official Twitter account late on July 5. 

His comments came after Kılıçdaroğlu voiced the main opposition’s concerns about possible provocations over the march, which he has been leading for 22 days. 

“According to our information, as the march approaches Istanbul we may be attacked by a group within the Ülkücü movement. The police would naturally stop it,” Kılıçdaroğlu told Hürriyet Daily News editor-in-chief Murat Yetkin on July 4.

“This rotten allegation is not even at a level that can prove itself. Ülkücüs have no place in street [politics]. They have no time to waste,” Bahçeli said, denying Kılıçdaroğlu’s allegations.

He also slammed Kılıçdaroğlu and the justice march, saying it had welcomed “members of terrorist organizations.”

“They have been walking for justice for 21 days, I don’t know what they have found and I don’t think I ever will. Justice is not something between Ankara and Istanbul. Justice is not something to walk for, it is a conscious struggle,” he added.

“Aren’t cruelty and terror injustices? Yes. In that case, how is it justice to walk arm-in-arm with the political instruments of terrorist organizations?” he said.

“The PKK [outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party] and FETÖ [Fethullahist Terrorist Organization] are supporting the CHP’s steps into the darkness. The people are not there [with them],” Bahçeli said.