Turkey's opposition criticizes president's party ties

By Seval Guler and Meltem Ozturk

ANKARA

Turkey’s main opposition leader on Tuesday said “a chairman of a political party cannot be a president of 80 million”.

Republican People’s Party (CHP) head Kemal Kilicdaroglu was speaking shortly after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was readmitted to the country’s ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party after a three-year absence.

Erdogan co-founded the party in 2001 but was obliged to stand down from his role as AK Party leader when elected president in 2014.

A new constitutional rule passed in a referendum on April 16 allowed a Turkish president to retain ties to a political party.

However, the opposition remain unhappy at the development.

“A chairman of a political party cannot be a president of 80 million,” Kilicdaroglu told a CHP party meeting in the parliament in Ankara.

Using a football analogy, Kilicdaroglu said: “It is like the captain of Fenerbahce [an Istanbul sports club] becoming a referee in a match in which Fenerbahce is playing.”

Erdogan became the fourth Turkish president to retain his party ties at a special ceremony in Ankara on Tuesday.

Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of the Republic of Turkey, maintained his membership of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), as did his successor, Ismet Inonu. Turkey’s third president, Celal Bayar, was also a member of the Democrat Party.

Kilicdaroglu also said some Yes voters in the recent referendum now regretted their decision because of the new law which allows a head of state to hold party-political links.

“Forty-nine percent is a joint vote of people who believe in democracy in this country. In the coming period, we will exert efforts in order to increase this 49-percent margin and we will speak to everyone," he said.

According to official results, the Yes campaign won with 51.41 percent, while the No vote stood at 48.59 percent in the referendum.

Kilicdaroglu also blasted Turkey’s ongoing state of emergency measures saying: “The constitution has been suspended with this state of emergency practice. The constitution in Turkey is not in force.”

After the constitutional referendum, the Turkish parliament extended the country's ongoing state of emergency for another three months.

Shortly after last July’s deadly coup attempt, which martyred 249 people and injured nearly 2,200 others, Turkey declared a state of emergency.