Erdoğan signals post-election military operation
ANKARA (DİHA) - Turkey's President, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, speaking on a program on Turkish national television, gave an alarming indication that the AKP government is preparing for a post-election military operation.
Erdoğan has said in a previous statement that "we have made our military preparations; plans B and C are ready to go into action." Now, the president has made another veiled remark hinting that the ruling AKP is ready for a possibly bloody police and/or military operation if things do not go as the party wants at the polls in Turkey's June 7 election.
Erdoğan claimed on the program that the AKP was continuing the Kurdish peace and resolution process and that those who used "illegal measures" in this context would pay the price.
"We can't tell these people 'you have a free hand,'" he said. Erdoğan referenced Turkey's new "Internal Security Law" that authorizes police to use deadly force. "You know that our Ministry of Internal Affairs passed laws related to internal security and this is what these laws are related to. These laws, of course, will go into action."
The president also referred to the opposition's claims to Turkey's Supreme Elections Committee (YSK) that he had violated the Constitution by conducting elections campaigning for the AKP under the guise of "opening ceremonies" for facilities. He said that the YSK's acceptance of any applications was a "political decision."
"It's very clear; it's very open. There is no impediment whatsoever in terms of in what square and how the President attends these kinds of mass openings or meetings with the people," said Erdoğan.
Erdoğan also commented on the video showing big rigs belonging to Turkey's intelligence service MİT secretly transporting weapons into Syria underneath "aid packages." He said that the broadcasting of the video (released by the newspaper Cumhuriyet) was "spying" and "treason."
"I opened a case and I won't leave it at that," said Erdoğan, apparently declaring his intention to target journalist Can Dündar.
(cm/nt)
