AKP reacts to Özgür Özel's 'junta' remark: 'Political ignorance, ugly politics'
CHP leader Özgür Özel's accusation of the government as a 'junta' during his party congress speech has drawn sharp responses from the AKP. AKP Deputy Chairman Hayati Yazıcı and Party Spokesperson Ömer Çelik accused Özel of political ignorance and a lack of historical knowledge.
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Republican People's Party (CHP) Chairman Özgür Özel's use of the term "junta" to describe the government during his speech at his party's 21st Extraordinary Congress has ignited political debate. Özel's remarks were met with a series of reactions from the Justice and Development Party (AKP) front.
FIRST REACTION FROM Hayati Yazıcı
The first reaction from the AKP side came from AKP Deputy Chairman Hayati Yazıcı. In a post on his social media account, Yazıcı described Özel's statements as a "dangerous and ugly political path" and continued as follows:
"The Chairman of the CHP continues to follow a dangerous and ugly political path by targeting our President and Chairman, Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who has emerged victorious from all the elections he has entered to date with the great support of our people, by calling him a 'junta leader'."
AKP Spokesperson Ömer Çelik also expressed his reaction to the issue with a harsh post on social media.
Çelik used the following expressions:
“In the democratic political dictionary, it is written that 'JUNTA EQUALS CHP'. Throughout Turkey's political history, the CHP has always been the political supporter of junta administrations for decades.”
''HE NEITHER KNOWS POLITICAL HISTORY NOR CAN HE CONSTRUCT A SENTENCE''
Çelik claimed that CHP Chairman Özel neither knows political history nor is capable of constructing a sound political sentence. He evaluated the "junta" accusation made by Özgür Özel against President Erdoğan, who was elected to office, as an injustice done to democracy:
“Using these expressions against our President, who has won every election he has entered with the national will, is nothing but malicious political ignorance. It is a typical CHP tradition; they call the will elected through democratic means a junta, while they view dark junta administrations as democracy.”
The AKP spokesperson stated that thanks to the political struggle waged by President Erdoğan, all threats to democracy in Turkey have been eliminated. In this context, he accused the CHP of standing close to coup-plotting mentalities and noted the following:
“With the political struggle of our President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, all secret and overt juntas over Turkish democracy have been neutralized. The junta-supporting CHP tradition has once again 'pledged allegiance to the Yassıada mentality' at this congress.”