PM orders Apaydın report says CHP MP

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

A report by Parliament’s Human Rights Commission that claimed that no military training was occurring on a camp for Syrian defectors in Hatay was drafted upon an order by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) deputy Hursit Güneş said yesterday.

Güneş, speaking at a press conference at the Parliament, disclosed photographs taken from international television broadcasts showing Free Syrian Army leader Riad al-Asaad at Apaydın Refugee Camp.

Güneş described the report prepared by Parliament’s Human Rights Commission as “a complete scandal” and added that he would send the photographs of the camp to all members of Parliament.

“Is this commission related to these camps? Is it their area of interest?” Güneş asked, suggesting the Prime Ministry ordered the commission to prepare such a report.

“The purpose of the report is to take legal precaution for a case that deserves to be tried at the Supreme Council,” Güneş said, claiming that the Constitution had been violated.

The Supreme Council is the name assumed by Turkey’s Constitutional Court when it oversees a criminal case.

Stating that foreign armed forces could not be stationed in Turkey without parliamentary permission, according to Article 92 of the Constitution, Güneş said: “There is no such permission. The whole world says there are armed forces [in Turkey]. I have sent the images and interviews made in Apaydın Camp on Sept. 26 to the president of the commission, Ayhan Sefer Üstün.”

The presence of Syrian rebel soldiers in Turkey became a controversial issue after a CHP delegation was not allowed to visit the Apaydın refugee camp on Aug. 25. The CHP deputies had alleged that Syrian opposition militants were being trained at the camp.

Members of the Human Rights Commission from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) visited the camp Sept. 3 after the Foreign Ministry gave permission for their visit; the delegation subsequently refuted rumors that militants were being trained there.

Commission members of the CHP and the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) snubbed the visit on the grounds that a delegation was only able to enter “after the necessary precautions were taken.”

“They should not prepare reports as if there is nothing at Apaydın Camp. ‘Their breakfasts are good, the tents are like this. Dinners are well regulated, the weather is hot.’ They cannot justify themselves with it. Since the summer 2011, the Free Syrian Army Headquarters has been there; all clashes were administrated from there,” Güneş said.