Turkish government blacklisted opposition deputies, CHP says

ISTANBUL – Hürriyet

The documents include personal and political background information on Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party's (CHP) Ankara deputy Emine Ülker Tarhan. Hürriyet photo

Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) has alleged that the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) collected 15 CHP deputies and officials' personal information and activity records with the help of police and the state intelligence agency.

The CHP also revealed the alleged blacklisting documents, saying the issue would be brought to Parliament’s agenda.

The documents include personal and political background information on Tunceli deputies Hüseyin Aygün and Kamer Genç, Ankara deputies Emine Ülker Tarhan and Levent Gök, Denizli deputy İlhan Cihaner and CHP Deputy Chair Nihat Matkap, including where and when they met with diplomats, politicians or “illegal organizations,” along with publicly known data.

However Turkey’s intelligence agency, MİT, categorically denied the claims that it had been involved in the alleged blacklisting when questioned by daily Hürriyet.

The documents said Aygün had participated a hunger strike in 2006 with the outlawed Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C) members and that he had close ties with Western diplomats, especially with the U.S. mission in Adana between 2003 and 2005, when he was serving as the Tunceli Bar Association head.

The documents even retraced deputies’ educations. The documents said Gök had attended student boycotts in 1988 in Ankara.

The documents claimed İlhan Cihaner aided the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the Black Sea region of Samsun while he was serving as the public prosecutor.

Tarhan had links with foreign missions because she held meetings with the International Republican Institute (IRI), Heinrich Böll Foundation and STRATFOR, according to the document.

CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu said the government had led the police and intelligence agencies of the state to pursue the main opposition party.

“We want everyone to know that this is very serious. Every country has political powers, but only democracies have opposition parties. It is not right for the intelligence agency and police to collect illegally gathered information about opposition party members and monitor them,” Kılıçdaroğlu told daily Hürriyet.