Turkish opposition CHP leader criticizes Erdoğan for steering public debate away from corruption scandal.

Turkish opposition CHP leader criticizes Erdoğan for steering public debate away from corruption scandal.(TZ).

The main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, has said the government, under public pressure from corruption and bribery allegations, is trying to draw attention away from them with speculation on the Ergenekon and Balyoz (Sledgehammer) cases, in which the convicts, including a number of top-brass military commanders, were accused of forming a terrorist organization to topple the government.

After one of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's senior advisors, Yalçın Akdoğan, mentioned in a local newspaper that the “parallel state had made a plot against the military” in these cases, the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) applied to the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office for a retrial of the Ergenekon and Balyoz convicts. Erdoğan confirmed on Saturday that a retrial is possible.

Kılıçdaroğlu said Erdoğan is not credible and that these debates are intended to change the direction of public discussion. He said the government has been enraged by the reporting of its members' corruption and embezzlement. Hence, the government has started to smear some groups, describing them as gangs aiming to topple the government.

“There is certainly a shoebox gang,” Kılıçdaroğlu said, referring to Halkbank General Manager Süleyman Aslan, in whose home police found $4.5 million stashed in shoe boxes during a raid that was part of the biggest corruption probe in Turkey's history.“Whatever you do, you can't get away with the shoe box.

By mentioning the injustice they did in the Ergenekon and Balyoz cases, they are trying to change the topic. They are covering up the corruption and bribery,” he said. 

He said the CHP has been shouting as loudly as possible that the convicts of these cases were denied the right to self-defense and that many unjust acts have been committed against them, to all of which the government had turned a deaf ear.

“He turned to us and said: 'You are pro-coup fans of Ergenekon.' Now you have become pro-coup and a fan of Ergenekon,” said Kılıçdaroğlu, adding that he has no trust in the prime minister's sincerity.

However, he called on Erdoğan to prove his honesty. “I will submit a legislative proposal to Parliament,” he said, inviting Erdoğan to offer his support.

Speaking at a groundbreaking ceremony for a students' residence and social center named after Teoman Öztürk, a former president of the the Turkish Union of Engineers and Architects' Chambers (TMMOB), Kılıçdaroğlu said the investigations had shown everyone the government's true colors.

“We witness today that those who claimed to be fighting against corruption are sunk in a marsh of corruption,” the CHP leader said.

His speech was frequently interrupted by spectators chanting, “Government resign!” 

Kılıçdaroğlu responded by saying that someone must have a sense of shame in order to consider resigning before such grave accusations. Not even one prime minister had defended corruption in the past, the CHP leader claimed, adding that Erdoğan is the first to have backed graft and bribery.

Kılıçdaroğlu also mentioned Erdoğan's meeting with some pro-government journalists, describing them as “wallflowers” for failing to ask the prime minister real questions.

Erdoğan met with 45 columnists and journalists in Dolmabahçe Palace, İstanbul, on Saturday to repeat the government's views on the corruption probe. Erdoğan believes an international conspiracy is being carried out to topple his government and thinks that certain groups in the US, Israel, Europe and Turkey have collaborated to plot against his rule. He stated that the corruption investigations are merely a sham.

The CHP leader lashed out at some full-page ads run by the Civilian Solidarity Platform (SDP) that appeared on the back pages of a number of newspapers on Friday.

He said he had investigated those included in this platform and found the Confederation of Turkish Real Trade Unions (Hak-İş) and the Civil Servants' Trade Union (Memur-Sen). “There are lots of fictitious institutions [within the platform]. Who paid the cost of these ads? A rear page ad is TL 50,000. What is this platform? I call out to all my brother workers who pay dues to Hak-İş. How much does your president earn? Who is paying the cost of these ads that attempt to legitimize corruption? Let [your president] openly declare this. You will take the workers' elbow grease and promote a prime minister who defends bribe-receivers. We are not accepting this,” Kılıçdaroğlu said.