Ankara (AA)
Turkish ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party Deputy Chairman responsible for Foreign Affairs Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Sunday that the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu contradicts himself as a social democrat supporting the Syrian leader Assad.
Commenting on the foreign policy issues on the agenda, AK Party Deputy Chairman Cavusoglu spoke to AA in an exclusive interview and criticized CHP leader Kilicdaroglu on his statements aiming to "tarnish Turkey's image abroad."
"Unfortunately Kilicdaroglu made a habit of slandering Turkey and the government abroad, which makes him ridiculous. He even contradicts with his ideas and policies in Turkey. For instance, he could not prevent declarations in South Africa condemning Assad while he supports the Assad regime at home but he himself issued declarations equating Palestine and those fighting for Palestine with a terrorist organization. He also made a fool of himself at the Meeting of Socialist Imperialist in Lisbon saying "Turkish economy sours" while foreigners go "We admire you, how did you succeed?"
Cavusoglu described the situation of opposition party as 'miserable', saying "Kilicdaroglu exaggerated his defamation policy as he was 'slammed and fired' by the European Parliament Socialist Group leader who cancelled their meeting after Kilicdaroglu dared to call his own prime minister as 'murderer'."
Reminding his visit to German province of Leipzig with the assignment of Turkish Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Cavusoglu stated that the Head of Socialist Group Hannes Swoboda met with him to say "We cannot accept such an attitude in Europe as social democrats. The opposition has the right to criticize the government as we criticize and warn Turkish Prime Minister when needed but also speak of the positive developments. However, it is unacceptable that the opposition leader used such a manner while speaking of the Prime Minister. Therefore, I cancelled the meeting as a reaction."
Cavusoglu also touched upon the sectarian intervention of Iran in the Syrian conflict and CHP's blaming AK Party with sectarianism.
"We called Assad to leave as a bloody-handed leader cannot rule his country any more. Without differentiating between Christian, Arab, Sunni, Kurd, Turkish groups in Syria, we want the Syrian people to choose their own leader, free from any foreign intervention. Unfortunately, Iran plays the card of sectarianism in Syria. The leader of CHP is a so-called social democrat, speaking of democracy and human rights on behalf of them. If a party and its leader still dare to back and support the Assad regime, it means they are the real sectarians," noted Cavusoglu.
