"This rudeness ...has received a fair response" said Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Emrullah Isler addressing Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s reaction to chairman of the Union of Turkish Bar Associations, Metin Feyzioglu's, lengthy speech and criticisms.
Feyzioglu criticized the government over the handling of the fallout from the 2011 earthquake in Van in eastern Turkey and said he had greetings from "the people who continue to live in containers in the city of Van,’’ during a speech at the Turkish Council of State's (Danistay) 146th anniversary ceremony.
“The Head of Court spoke for 25 minutes, you have been speaking for more than an hour,’’ Erdogan said.
"You don't have the legal right to say this," Erdogan responded. ‘’You're making a political speech, everything you said about Van is a lie."
Erdogan, who attended the ceremony to mark the court's founding with President Abdullah Gul and Chief of Staff Necdet Ozel, rose to his feet at the end of Feyzioglu's speech, accusing him of a "lack of decorum" and "lies".
Cabinet member, Isler, defended Erdogan's reaction in his statement on Twitter and said the Bar chairman was hiding behind his robe and taking advantage of these kinds of ceremonies to criticize the politicians.
Feyzioglu's speech contained references to political issues, including recent wiretapping scandals, corruption allegations against the government, the March 30 local polls and the upcoming presidential election on August 10.
The council of state criticized the speech in a statement released after the ceremony ended saying "the speech included topics that were not related to administrative justice and lawyers, and it disturbed our guests who did not have the right of reply while also hurting the members of the host institution."
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