Erdoğan responds to opposition's allegations about private military contractor
Photo: AA
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President and Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has talked about the issues on the agenda at his party's parliamentary group meeting.
The opposition's claims about SADAT, a private military contractor whose founder is a former senior advisor to the president, was "unreasonable," the president said.
The main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu on Friday (May 13) went to the company's headquarters in İstanbul and accused it of carrying out "paramilitary activities" and "threatening election security," which the company denied.
"SADAT is a company that a group of officers and petty officers founded in 2012 after being retired from the TSK [Turkish Armed Forces]. This company works on Islamic countries that had been colonized for many years," Erdoğan remarked.
"Previously, fake news about this company based on the statements of some politicians appeared in the media. For example, the lady who chairs a political party that is still the CHP's alliance claimed in 2018 that armed training camps had been set up in various places in our country. The public prosecutor's office had opened an investigation into the news and revealed that this claim was nothing but a lie.
"No, the person who heads the CHP went to the SADAT company like storming it and repeated similar nonsense."
The president accused Kılıçdaroğlu of lying and claimed that his statements were in fact against Turkey's "successful operations abroad" and its "mediator role in regional conflict."
He had no relationships whatsoever with the founders of SADAT, he said, despite its founder and head being a former advisor to him.
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Sweden and Finland's NATO membership
The president also spoke about the NATO membership applications from Sweden and Finland, once again accusing the two countries of "protecting terrorists."
As a NATO member, Turkey will not agree to any enlargement that could leave the military alliance less secure, nor harm its own security, he asserted.
"We expect our allies to understand our sensitivities ... and to provide support if possible," he said. "We are one of the top countries that actively support the activities of the alliance, but this does not mean we will agree to every proposal without question."
Sweden refused to extradite some 30 "terrorists" to Turkey, but "dares to ask for NATO membership," said the president.
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(AS/VK)