Erdogan to meet heads of Turkish political parties

By Zehra Aydin

ANKARA

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has invited leaders of some of Turkey's political parties to the presidential palace in Ankara to thank them for their stance against the coup attempt on July 15.

The Turkish leader is also to receive their suggestions, a presidential source said on Sunday.

The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the Turkish president sent a letter to the head of the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party Binali Yildirim, Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu and Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) head Devlet Bahceli.

"The armed coup attempt by the FETO terrorist group aiming to demolish the democratic state ruled by a constitution, fundamental rights and liberties and the Republic of Turkey was prevented by the brave resistance of our people who strongly adhered to its democracy," read the letter.

Underlining that the same decisive stance was expected from all political parties in Turkey, the letter added:

"The Turkish people encumbered important responsibilities on all of our institutions by their decisive stance against the coup attempt and now expect our political parties to carry out the same responsibilities in this extremely critical period when we need to be in solidarity."

The letter said the meeting will be held on July 25, at 2.00 p.m. local time (1100GMT).

* Anadolu Agency correspondent Sibel Ugurlu contributed to the report from Ankara.