President, PM slam Turkish main opposition for criticizing arrests of HDP deputies

Both President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım have harshly slammed the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) for its recent criticism of the arrest of the co-leaders and 10 lawmakers of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) on terrorism charges. 

A statement by the CHP following a party assembly meeting over the weekend, which called the arrests "unconstitutional" and called for the release of arrested Cumhuriyet journalists, was targeted by both Erdoğan and Yıldırım.

"Attacking the president, the prime minister by releasing statements does not befit any politician. Now they ask why the issue has gone to the judiciary. What else should have happened? Everyone should know their place," Erdoğan said during an opening ceremony in Ankara on Nov. 8. 

"Those who betray this nation and those who attempt lawyering terrorists should pay for it, they should be held accountable for it," he said. 

"The main opposition party unfortunately blames the [presidential] palace and the ruling party for aiding and abetting DEASH and other terror organizations," Erdoğan said, using an Arabic acronym for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). 

"What kind of a main opposition are they?" he asked. 

Ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Deputy Chair Abdülhamit Gül announced that the party has filed a legal complaint against CHP's statement. Erdoğan also filed a complaint, state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

Yıldırım mocked the CHP statement in his weekly addressing to party deputies on Nov. 8. 

"Their statement is the exact example of a lack of political foresight. What is this? Vileness! This looks like the boycott statements that university students read after every lesson,...