Özgür Özel's 'Kayseri' reaction: We will sit down, talk, and reach an agreement with Assad

Republican People's Party (CHP) Chairman Özgür Özel visited citizens affected by the fire in İzmir to convey his well wishes.

Responding to questions from members of the press there, Özgür Özel addressed the events that took place in Kayseri yesterday.

Responding to AKP President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's remarks, "We see resorting to hate politics for the sake of political gain as a sign of weakness," Özel said, "I do not know which opposition he is referring to when he speaks of hate politics, discriminatory language, or the opposition's poisonous language. But it is clear that the Republican People's Party cannot be the subject of such an accusation. Whoever he is talking about, the President does not need to generalize by saying 'the opposition' as a whole; he should speak clearly and get an answer from whoever he is addressing."

TO ERDOĞAN: "YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE"

Özgür Özel continued: "When I say that if there are events like those that happened yesterday and a refugee problem in Turkey, the government is responsible, I suppose Mr. Erdoğan cannot say 'It is not me, it is other power centers.' There is only one government. He says, 'I am responsible for everything,' so then you are responsible for this as well."

"IF YOU CALL THE FSA THE KUVAYI MİLLİYE..."

"Can the government that runs the country blame everything on the opposition?" asked Özel, adding:

"Of course, some statements by certain opposition figures may be extremely harsh, and there may be expressions that we find erroneous. But the founder of this country left you a testament: do not interfere in the internal affairs of your neighbor, respect the territorial integrity of your neighbor, do not engage with non-state actors in your neighbor... If you call the Free Syrian Army the Kuvayi Milliye (National Forces), if you say 'bring-train-equip and let them fight,' are you respecting your neighbor's internal affairs or not? If you say 'I will go to pray in the Umayyad Mosque in 3 hours,' are you respecting your neighbor's territorial integrity and sovereign rights or not?"

"WE ARE AGAINST POLICIES THAT CREATE REFUGEES"

"If there is a refugee problem in Turkey that, according to official figures, stands at 4.6 million, and according to common belief, is approaching 10 million, the sole responsibility lies with the bad foreign policy that the Justice and Development Party has pursued for years," said Özel, stating:

"It is easy to be hostile toward refugees; we are against the policies and politicians that create refugees. If you incite civil war in your neighbor, you will burden this country with this many refugees. If anyone objects to this, let them come forward and we will talk. Which one of us is to blame for this many refugees coming to the country? While we were saying 'do not trade insults with Assad, do not change Assad's name to 'Esed', do not treat someone you were vacationing with yesterday as an enemy today, sit down and cooperate to stop this civil war,' you poured gasoline on the fire. Then migration waves occurred. After we said it, he said he would meet with Assad. I said I would offer mediation. I said let us sit at the table somehow and let the refugees go."

"WE WILL TALK AND REACH AN AGREEMENT WITH ASSAD"

Noting that it is necessary to meet with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Özel said:

"We will sit down, talk, and reach an agreement with Assad, and peace will be established in Syria. The European Union will reach into its pocket, we will all take responsibility, and these refugees will return to Syria. Assad will do his part in this regard. Now he says, 'I used to go on vacation, I will do it again.' You go on vacation, but there is no room left to swim in Turkey's holiday resorts. I wish you had never ruined that vacation, and had never fallen out with Assad."

CALL FOR COMMON SENSE

Calling for common sense regarding the events, Özel stated, "I invite everyone to act with common sense. The police and the gendarmerie are the ones who carry the weapon on our behalf. The judge is the one who will hand down the sentence on our behalf, and the prison is where the sentence will be served. If you try to hand down the sentence yourself, if you try to use force in place of the police and the gendarmerie, you will end up in the wrong even if you were right. To prevent these events from happening, the refugee problem must be solved."

News Source: 12punto