CHP to 'stand by the oppressed,' says Kılıçdaroğlu

The Republican People's Party (CHP) will continue to "stand by all the oppressed" in Turkey, despite growing pressure from the government, CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has vowed, refuting accusations that his party supported terrorism. 

"Our party assembly got together and issued a declaration. Now I understand they are very uncomfortable with this … We said: 'No to coups, no to dictatorship, long live democracy.' They are uncomfortable with that," Kılıçdaroğlu said on Nov. 8 in his weekly address to the CHP parliamentary group.

He was responding to strong criticisms from both Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım and Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) head Devlet Bahçeli, who have slammed the CHP as lending support to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) by denouncing the arrest of Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) lawmakers and daily Cumhuriyet journalists. 

"We have been attacked by two sides: On one side the PKK and on the other the AKP [Justice and Development Party]. They are collaborating," Kılıçdaroğlu said, brandishing a photo of HDP lawmakers together with government officials while negotiating a solution to Kurdish question. "I ask now: Who are they?" he added.

The CHP objected to the collapsed peace talks between the PKK and the government unless they were held under the roof of parliament, he added, accusing the government of providing legitimacy to the PKK through the behind-closed-doors talks. 

"In 2012, then prime minister [Recep Tayyip Erdoğan] said 'I sent the committee [composed of HDP lawmakers and state officials for talks with jailed PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan] to pursue peace talks with PKK.' They shuffled between İmralı [the prison where Öcalan is kept] and the Kandil [Mountains, known as the PKK's...