'Pervert' debate rocks politics amid harsh words

The heat in the debate over main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal K?l?çdaro?lu's criticism against Turkey's family minister has been turned up, with K?l?çdaro?lu firing back at President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an over his use of the word "pervert."

"He called me a 'pervert,'" K?l?çdaro?lu said on a visit to the Turkish Medical Association (TTB) on April 7, referring to Erdo?an's harsh wording against him a day earlier.

"Isn't it perversion to say, 'I sit in Dolmabahçe [Palace in Istanbul] and look at the women and girls on the ferries that are coming from Kad?köy?' This is perversion. The person who said this and who confessed this is Erdo?an," K?l?çdaro?lu said, referring to Erdo?an's statements on June 2, 2013, on a TV program.

"I see the state the people coming from Kad?köy are in," Erdo?an had said, while answering a question about people who interfered with a couple because they were "immorally" hugging each other in the metro. "Actually, these states don't correspond to my own values. But despite that, I say, 'That person is a member of my society. I can't mess with that person's clothes or life' and I show respect to that person."

 "Is it your job to sit at Dolmabahçe and look at the girls and women?" K?l?çdaro?lu asked. 

"I have a better example when we come to political perversion. This person promised to stay impartial. What is political perversion? It is the person who takes an oath in parliament and then throws his honor and pride in the dustbin by breaking the oath. What's the name of this if it's not political perversion?" K?l?çdaro?lu said, adding that Erdo?an was the "source of perversion."

The fresh debate started when K?l?çdaro?lu criticized Family Minister Sema Ramazano?lu,...