AKP mayors who favored Gülenists untouched by probe: CHP

The leader of Turkey's main opposition party has criticized the government for not touching politics and politicians as part of the ongoing probe in the aftermath of the July 15 failed coup attempt, including mayors who provided enormous financial support to the Gülenist network. 

"The cost of the coup has been passed on to academics who signed a peace declaration, to teachers registered in trade unions, to the rank and file and to the business world, but not to politics. Politics and politicians are not in any way paying the cost, although they are the most responsible for this coup [attempt]," Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, head of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), told daily Hürriyet in an interview on Sept. 23. 

Kılıçdaroğlu went further, arguing that no action had been taken against mayors who provided a significant amount of financial gains to the Gülenist organization. "You are dismissing civil servants, seizing the assets of businessmen, but you don't touch [mayors]. The real perpetrators are left unpunished. This is the main problem," he said. Kılıçdaroğlu did not name which mayors he was referring to. 

The CHP leader also made important evaluations on the ongoing cross-border operation into Syria, as he suggested it would take around seven to eight years for the Turkish army to leave the country, adding that this duration could even increase if it goes further south as announced by the government.

"We support the Turkish Armed Forces' [TSK] fight against ISIL [the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant] and its efforts to protect our borders. But we are against going further south and interfering in Syria's internal affairs. In any case, it will take seven to eight years for our army to get out of its current...