Kılıçdaroğlu: ‘Coup attempt is a result of AKP’s 14-years long administration’

SEBAHAT KARAKOYUN – YAŞAR AYDIN

@ssenyaprak - @yasaraydinnn

CHP Chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu gave statements to BirGün about the contemporary Turkey and steps taken by the current government following the July 15 coup attempt. Emphasizing that CHP is ready to take on responsibility in the re-structuring of the state; Kılıçdaroğlu also expressed his concerns over the decree laws that are being passed one after the other. He said: “You run the country for 14 years and you take it to a point of a coup attempt. This must be questioned!... The government must provide a serious self-criticism. Saying ‘we have been deceived’ is not self-criticism.”

Touching on several current issues, Kılıçdaroğlu continued his remarks as follows:

‘Interrogations must be handled carefully’

‘We held the view that declaring state of emergency after the coup attempt of July 15 was not right and we voted against it in the Parliament. Looking at the current situation, we now see how right we were about our concerns. We have no problem with trials of those who were involved in the coup attempt. They can be judged, interrogated, investigated; certain precautions can also be taken. We don’t have a problem with any of these. But we cannot accept the handling of these operations like a bull in a china shop.”

‘State cannot be run with hatred’

We have always emphasized rule of law and said that a state cannot be run with feelings of hatred, anger, and revenge. On the opposite, as we have said, these were actually the motives of the coup plotters and Turkey went through this sort of a process after each coup. State officials believing in rule of law should downgrade themselves to the level of the coup plotters. We established a commission for the OHAL (state of emergency) in our party HQs. We are receiving too many complaints in regards to OHAL and we are taking these into account. Then, we share the results of our evaluations with the subjected individuals. We are trying to prevent most of the unfair practises; and, we are in a way trying to help serving justice by avoiding throwing out the baby with the bathwater.”

‘Things have come to this point under AKP rule’

Turkey has come to this point in 14 years. Think about it, you are handed over a government in year 2002. You run it for 14 years and take it to a point of a coup attempt. This must be questioned! Why is Turkey faced with a coup attempt? In a way, history repeats itself. And, history can repeat itself only if state is in the hands of imprudent politicians. Otherwise, if you can learn the lessons of the past, why would history repeat itself?”

‘Saying ‘we have been deceived’ is not self-criticism’

“The administration must provide a serious self-criticism. It knows what the mistakes were because it has been said for years and years. The government must now appear in front of people and say ‘we made these mistakes and we promise not to make them again.’ If the heads of a state is cheated on, that means a whole society is cheated on.”

‘There should be political consequences’

“If the heads of state are deceived, then, that means they are not able to run the state. It means that others are running the state but they think they are doing it themselves. They realize it much later. Then, they shouldn’t continue running the state; there should be political consequences. After anything that is out of the ordinary, if they say ‘we have been deceived’, then, it would be good to remind of Namık Kemal’s verses in his Hürriyet Kasidesi (Eulogy to Liberty) where he says ‘and, we have withdrawn from the state in honor’”

‘The place for re-structuring to be carried out is the Parliament’

“I have shared my concerns about the decree laws with Prime Minister. According to the Constitution, ‘state of emergency’ requires special legal approach. The authority and decree laws must only be in regards to the state of emergency. If you continue implementing the laws passed during the state of emergency even after it is lifted, then, you would be giving that state of emergency a permanence. We had already said that competence of the state had collapsed before and that there was a need for re-structuring. But if you are indeed going to re-structure the state, you can not do it through decrees under state of emergency. The place for re-structuring to be carried out is the Parliament.”

Support us for independent media in Turkey

‘Military must be open to civil monitoring’

State does not belong to a particular political party, group, an individual, or a family. We are all represented in the same Parliament; we must be able to discuss things freely at the Parliament, and, if necessary, we must re-structure the state. For example, the question of allowing civil monitoring of the military; we desire that. But if you try to design certain institutions however you wish by taking advantage of a coup attempt, you create a ground for new conflicts and find yourself in another trouble while trying to escape from one.”

‘They are over-egging the pudding’

“This is actually opportunistic, rather than being quick. They say, ‘we can re-design the state with this authority’. Because, they know that there is also no judicial remedy at Constitutional courts. This is not right! Something like this would bounce back in a democracy. They are creating a ground for new problems. Through the decrees passed under state of emergency, military has been put within the boundaries of heated politics. But we assert that politics should not be infused into to military units, mosques, and courts. We must carry out our duties rightfully. But this is not possible if you are doing politics through these decrees. If you don’t think about hierarchy and allow three people to give commands to one person, what would happen to that person? Which command would he follow? Therefore, these decrees cause over-egging of the pudding and it must be corrected.”

‘A mindset that does not learn the lessons from coup attempt’

“Before the coup attempt, too, we had always stood on the side of ‘rule of law.’ If the state officials of the country do not believe in rule of law and a secular-social state structure; and, if they don’t enforce what needs to be enforced, we can say that it is a result of not learning the lesson from the coup attempt. The political parties should also learn the lesson. If democracy had been in act in our country fully; if its competency hadn’t collapsed; if people with knowledge and experiences had been appointed to certain positions – instead of a particular community, sect, political group or clan -, we would have had a completely different structure now.”

‘The insistence on building the barracks at Taksim is so dangerous’

“Tension among the members of the society must be eased down. And, the government can do that because the government is the party creating the situation for this tension, not the opposition. If the government is to learn a lesson from this coup attempt, that should be lowering the tension. Now, especially, on the day right after the attempt, making statements regarding ‘plans to build the barracks (in Taksim Gezi Park)’ is actually same as saying ‘I am determined to keep this tension’ and it is wrong. And, it is also very dangerous. Therefore, politics should be in a way that shows responsibility and lower the tensions.”

‘If tension is not lowered, there would be no agreement’

If tension is avoided, there could be an agreement. But if it is not, there would be no agreement to begin with; because, political parties would not be able to take action independently from their constituents. Each political party has its own grassroots; and each grassroots has its own world view and political view. If tension is lowered – in other words, if leaders are able to give out softer messages -, and, if the process is leaned towards consensus, lowering the tension would also become easier. And, these kinds of laws would not have to come up at the Parliament floor. If you say, on one hand, ‘Let’s avoid tension, let’s agree’, and, say ‘We brought up these bills, we are preparing these regulations, and we will pass them at the Parliament with our own strenght’, on the other, this would be just an example of ‘a culture of oppression.’”

‘We will see if our views are taken into account’

“Prime Minister Yıldırım has expressed his will for reaching consensus. And, we have extended our appreciations for that. He has also stated that they will take into account the views of CHP at the Parliament and that they would continue that. I’ve also expressed my concerns about the current decree laws and I’ll forward him my note about this. We will be sharing with them our views with regards to ‘why these decrees are against the Constitution and how this unconstitutional approach can be reverted’. And, then, we will see soon whether our views are really taken into consideration or they would be just put aside.”

‘HDP should be left out’

“HDP has 5 million electorates. So, it is a legit political party according to Political Parties Act. You are looking for a consensus in the society; and, since HDP has demonstrated its firm stand against coups and portrayed this at the Parliament by signing a joint statement of all parties, leaving it out and discriminating against them is not right. This is an act of neglecting our Kurdish citizens and discriminating against them. They are honorable citizens of this country. Love of our country is equal among all of us; we all love our homeland, our flag, our country, the Republic, and democracy. But we can have different political views; regardless, we must find a common ground. In terms of this common ground, HDP is left out at the moment.”

‘We will not allow it’

“About placing General Staff under the Presidency: there is no possibility for that to actualize... We will not allow that to happen in Constitutional amendments. We have three main conditions for a through amendment of the Constitution: firstly, the first 4 articles will not be touched on; secondly, a strong Parliamentarian system will be created; thirdly, along with the Constitution, the laws based on martial regulations will be evaluated and Turkey will be completely cleared out of such laws; and, lastly, there will be a true democracy. If they accept these, we will sit at the same table with them, of course.”

Source: https://www.birgun.net/haber-detay/darbe-girisimi-14-senelik-akp-iktidarinin-sonucu-122805.html