Opposition parties want early elections: İYİ Party leader
ANKARA
Opposition İYİ (Good) Party leader Meral Akşener has once again made a call for early elections but said the number of seats her party has in parliament was not enough to initiate snap elections.
“As the opposition, we want elections. Turkey cannot continue like this. There is no merit, no transparency. There is no right, no law, no democracy, no justice,” Akşener said at a joint press conference with Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the leader of Republican People’s Party (CHP), after their meeting on Nov. 25.
Akşener blamed President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for suppressing dissidents within his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and said the resignation of High Advisory Board member Bülent Arınç was the latest case of this attitude. She suggested that Erdoğan is under the pressure of compliance with the will of his alliance partner Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).
Erdoğan will not be able to face up a possible early election call by MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli, Akşener said, recalling the nationalist leader’s similar attempts in the country’s political past.
“When Mr. Bahçeli says, ‘Come on, we are going to the elections,’ it does not seem possible for Mr. Erdoğan to have this risk. Their situation is bad today, and it will be worse tomorrow,” she said, noting that the people are in economic difficulty.
“The small partner captured the greater partner,” Kılıçdaroğlu said, referring to the balances within the People’s Alliance — the ruling AKP and MHP— over the recent developments after the economic and judicial reforms were brought to the agenda by the president.
Turkey is not “governed; it is scattered,” the CHP leader said.
“The cost on the society increases each day. Turkey is undergoing a serious weakness in both the international arena and domestically. Turkey should get out of that. Turkey should democratize. The way to do this is clear. They will say, ‘We cannot manage Turkey” and will apply for arbitration of people,” he said.
“One should not be afraid of the public,” Kılıçdaroğlu said.
