A report made by the main Turkish opposition, Republican People’s Party (CHP), states that the government crackdown following the July 15 failed military coup attempt has targeted leftist, social democrats, revolutionaries, and Attaturk supporters.
Veli Agbaba (Image: Public Domain)
On September 5, Turkish media website Cumhuriyet reported on the CHP’s report, prepared by the party’s co-leader Veli Agbaba.
According to the CHP’s report, the aftermath of the military coup and the subsequent State of Emergency and government crackdown of all state and non-governmental organizations linked to Gulen Movement, resulted in the targeting of the leftist and many innocent civilians. The report used the term “witch hunt”, previously used by CHP Chair Kemal Kilicdaroglu, to describe the government measures after the coup attempt.
New Parallel Structure
The Gulen Movement (called FETO in Turkey), accused of masterminding the plot for July 15th military coup attempt, was described by the AKP government as an organization which is attempting to infiltrate the government by creating a parallel structure within state institutions.
However, the latest CHP report explains that in the aftermath of the coup, a “new parallel structure” and new religious movements are being created by the government. The report states that the vacated posts from the officials suspended during the post-coup government crackdown are now being assigned to the “new parallel structure”.
Cumhuriyet cited the report in saying; “New cults and new parallel structures are being built in place of FETO”.
Government’s “Witch hunt”
Although all parliamentary parties denounced the coup attempt, and expressed their support for democracy in a rare joint statement in parliament on July 16th – just one day after the putsch attempt, they strongly differed on the government’s post-coup measures.
Kemal Kilicdaroglu has, several times, spoke against the government crackdown and the declared three-month state of emergency, warning the government not to transform the crackdown into a “witch hunt”.
The latest CHP report says: “The suspension and dismissal measures of public servants suspected of having links to the coup attempt have started to turn into a witch hunt. The government is taking advantage of the situation, suspending or dismissing leftists, social democrats, Atatürk supporters and people belonging to different faiths”.
Strong Disagreements Between CHP and AKP on Post-Coup Measures
On August 27, in a televised interview for CNN Turk, the leader of the largest opposition party, CHP, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, openly spoke against AKP government’s actions in the coup aftermath. Kilicdaroglu accused the government of “going too far” in implementing the powers granted by the “state of emergency”. He also criticized the arrest of writer Asli Erdogan and the closure of the media organizations.
The latest CHP report stated; “As the CHP, we defend the removal of FETÖ (Gulen Movement) members, coup plotters and all who want to make the state function-less. But in this process, we see that a lot of innocent citizens, leftists who don’t have any connection to FETÖ, social democrats, revolutionaries, Atatürk supporters, and citizens from different faith groups are being suspended or dismissed”.
Dejan Scepanovic
Based in Bosnia and Herzegovina. BA in political science. Columnist.
