Dervişoğlu responds to MHP from the site where Sinan Ateş was shot: 'I am speaking from the place they know best'

İYİ Party leader Müsavat Dervişoğlu is responding to threats directed at him from the exact spot in Ankara where Sinan Ateş was shot.

Highlights from Dervişoğlu's speech are as follows:

"I am not here to respond to anyone in particular. If I were to respond to every immoral person, I would be giving credit to immorality. My political counterparts are clear. I see this as a responsibility placed upon me by democracy. Why am I holding this press conference? I am here to remind those who have responsibilities of their duties. They might not know my address. Without needing them to search for me here and there, I am holding this press conference in the place they know best. Exactly 16 hours have passed since the threat. I am the leader of a political party with a group in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM). Therefore, when there is an insult and a threat, there are institutions that are required to take action. At the head of these are the President, the Minister of Justice, and the Minister of Interior.

'ARE THE MINISTERS AFRAID?'

Despite 16 hours having passed, no steps have been taken by these institutions. Where are the Minister of Interior and the Minister of Justice when the leader of a political party is being threatened? Where are those who take people to the police station or the prosecutor's office in the middle of the night over a tweet? I invite them to do their jobs. Are they afraid? Are they afraid of these threats? I am exercising a constitutional right. My colleagues in our party are also engaging in politics by exercising the same right. These threats are not ordinary crimes or threats. They are trying to usurp a right granted to me by the Constitution. Do some people have the right to commit crimes? Do some people have the freedom to incite crime? Are those who provide the environment for this the ones who are taking steps to ensure that those who commit crimes are protected? Our safety of life and property stems from our citizenship rights. Those who govern this state are obligated to protect the safety of life and property of the citizens.

'ÖCALAN WILL SPEAK IN PARLIAMENT, DERVİŞOĞLU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO WALK IN ANKARA'

The turning point for everything is October 22. Because I stood against Abdullah Öcalan being granted the right to speak at the podium as the leader of the İYİ Party, I have become the target of an attack and a threat. Abdullah Öcalan will come to Parliament and speak, but Müsavat Dervişoğlu will not be able to walk the streets of Ankara, is that it?

What do they want to turn Turkey into? From the moment we entered the political scene, we called for a 'talking Turkey.' We are being governed by a state mentality that wants to silence its citizens. Some are involved in a program that will lay the groundwork for the construction of a despotic regime in this country. I repeat my call for democracy. We are not a party that needs to feed off the weakness that the MHP is facing. We are engaged in politics to ensure and establish rights, law, and justice. I have always pursued justice. I want it to be followed as a commitment that I will continue to defend our rights and laws to the end, and that I will stand against anything that would harm our unitary state structure. Where do they find this audacity?"

News Source: 12punto