BRUSSELS
President of the Social and Democrat Group in the European Parliament Hannes Swoboda has said that the comparison of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad by main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu was unacceptable.
Swoboda was set to come together with Kilicdaroglu, however, Swoboda cancelled his meeting with the CHP leader because of his statements comparing Erdogan to Assad.
"I can not accept that the leader of CHP as my invitee compares Assad of Syria to Erdogan of Turkey. This is unacceptable," wrote Swoboda in his Twitter account.
Swoboda and Kilicdaroglu appeared at a joint press conference on Wednesday. Kilicdaroglu replied questions of journalists after Swoboda left the conference hall.
"Recep Tayyip Erdogan is murderer of 51 people in Reyhanli. He is responsible for the blast," claimed Kilicdaroglu.
Furthermore, Kilicdaroglu also compared Erdogan to Assad and defended that PM Erdogan and Assad were both oppressive but they had just "tune difference".
Kilicdaroglu said, "There is no difference between Erdogan and Assad in terms of democracy," said Kilicdaroglu after Swoboda left the conference hall.
Swoboda who said he regretted statements of Kilicdaroglu later cancelled his scheduled meeting with Kilicdaroglu.
