Turkish PM slams AKP member for 'new state' remarks

Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım has slammed a ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) member over his controversial remarks on "founding a new state," which had prompted outrage from opposition parties. 

Yıldırım criticized AKP member Ayhan Oğan after the latter said the government is "building a new state and its founding leader is President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan."

"Are you joking? The state of the Turkish Republic was founded on Oct. 29, 1923," Yıldırım said in a speech in the Central Anatolian province of Sivas on Aug. 5, adding that "what someone says carries no importance."

"What is said by TV programmers and commentators are not binding for our party," he added. 

Oğan had raised eyebrows by saying on Aug. 3 that the "building of a new state" started after the failed July 15, 2016 coup attempt, widely believed to have been masterminded by the followers of the U.S.-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen. 

"Whether you like it or not, this new state's founding leader is Tayyip Erdoğan," Oğan said during a program on private broadcaster CNN Türk. 

"On July 15, all tutelage mechanisms within the state crumbled apart. The state system in which bureaucratic oligarchy was the hegemon has come to an end," he added. 

His words prompted outrage among opposition ranks, leading main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) deputy Aytuğ Atıcı to question whether the current state "has been demolished."

Upon a reporter's question about Oğan being a former AKP Central Decision Making and Executive Council (MKYK) member, Prime Minister Yıldırım described his remarks as "unacceptable." 

"The title is not important. It would also be unacceptable if one of our friends on duty said that. What's...