Turkey's main opposition leader warns of 'intelligence state'

ESSEN

Turkey's main opposition leader has vowed in Germany on June 7 that his party will abolish the laws when it comes to power to prevent an "intelligence state."

"In democracies, there is the rule of law. Everyone trusts in the judiciary. If you transform the state into an inteligence state, you can't talk about the rule of law. People will be wiretapped and the state will be administered as such. We will prevent it. We will abolish all those laws," Republican People's Party (CHP) chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has said in Essen during his visit to Germany.

"My phones are being wiretapped. The phones of my family and my relatives, too... Whatever they do, we will not be intimidated. We will not fear," Kılıçdaroğlu added.

'We will go to jail'

Kılıçdaroğlu also criticized the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) for rejecting the eight separate parliamentary motions for the investigation of murders by unknown assailants. He focused his criticism on Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's polarizing discourse, as well as the government's policies on media, laborers, technology, education and European Union.

Admitting that the CHP also "lagged behind on certain issues," Kılıçdaroğlu complained of the ruling AKP's pressure on the judiciary and opposition politicians. "Summary of proceedings about us are waiting. When we're no longer members of Parliament, we will go to jail. Recep Bey [Tayyip Erdoğan] is happy about it," he said.