First statement from AKP MP Hüseyin Yayman, who was photographed with a PKK leader: 'Like someone who found treasure...'

Esenyurt's elected Mayor Ahmet Özer was arrested on allegations including having phone conversations with Remzi Kartal, a member of the terrorist organization PKK. 

Following this, CHP Şanlıurfa MP Mahmut Tanal addressed AKP MP Hüseyin Yayman at the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM) General Assembly.

CHP's Tanal stated, "Mr. Hüseyin Yayman is sitting in the AKP rows. You dined with Mr. Remzi Kartal, along with Ayşenur Bahçekapılı. There is a principle of equality in crime and punishment. If you look at phone records from years ago, more than half of the AKP should not be here today. They should be in prison. That is why I am saying this: there is a principle of justice in crime and punishment. In accordance with Article 10 of the Constitution, we want equality, we want equality."

CHP Group Deputy Chairman Ali Mahir Başarır also said, "Hüseyin Yayman is here, Ahmet Özer is in Silivri; is this acceptable? If you are from the AKP, you can dine with a terrorist and talk to the FETÖ ringleader. But if you are an opposition member, you get arrested. If we go back into the past, there would be no MPs left in the AKP rows."

"YOU ARE LIKE SOMEONE WHO FOUND TREASURE"

AKP Hatay MP and Chairman of the Digital Media Commission Hüseyin Yayman, who is at the center of the criticism, broke his silence. Yayman expressed the following:

"There has been a debate for a week over a photograph. We have remained silent and listened regarding this debate until now, so that people could speak their minds. The main point of the matter is this: I would like to state clearly that I am a brother of yours who graduated from the Faculty of Political Sciences. I worked as a lecturer in the Department of Public Administration at Gazi University. As a Turk, I have written about Turkey's memory of the Kurdish issue, and everyone already knows this. If they don't know, I ask them to look it up. Regarding this subject, regarding this subject, regarding this subject: first, I went to that meeting at the European Parliament regarding the resolution process as an academic and a journalist, and I wrote about all of this in Vatan newspaper."

I also find it strange that my colleagues are commenting on this as if they have found treasure. Because I already wrote about these things in Vatan newspaper. Secondly, I was there as an academic; I had no political identity, and what is more important is what I said there. In the European Parliament, I defended the resolution process, believed that Turks and Kurds are brothers, and by repeating the words of Ziya Gökalp, to whom Mr. Devlet [Bahçeli] referred, I said this in the European Parliament: 'There is no Kurd who does not love the Turk, and there is no Turk who does not love the Kurd.'

We have been together for a thousand years; we are brothers, we share the same feelings, the same history, and we are together in the same future. Just as we stood together in Sultan Alparslan's army in 1071, just as we stood together in Çanakkale, and just as we stood together in the Cyprus War against the imperialists..."

MHP'S CELAL ADAN DID NOT GRANT ADDITIONAL TIME

Yayman stated that he had not been able to explain himself and requested the floor from Deputy Speaker of the TBMM Celal Adan. Adan did not grant him the floor. Yayman said, "Sir, I could not explain the photograph." Adan replied, "Sir, you explained it; you said you attended as an academic," and did not accept Yayman's objection.

News Source: 12punto