Vice President files a criminal complaint against main opposition leader Kılıçdaroğlu

* Photo: Screenshot from Kılıçdaroğlu's video

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Vice President Fuat Oktay has taken legal action against Republican People's Party (CHP) Chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu over his remarks in a video dated October 16, where he made a call to bureaucrats.

Addressing bureaucrats in his video, main opposition leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu briefly said, "You cannot get away with this dirty business by saying, 'I received an order.' Whatever unlawful thing you are made to do, stop as of Monday (yesterday, October 18)."

In a series of tweets on his social media account yesterday, the day pointed out by CHP's Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, Vice President Fuat Oktay has announced that he is "filing a criminal complaint from there against the ones who threaten and cast doubt on all sections of citizens and personnel by trying to create a perception of tutelage and parallel structure."

"These parallel structures must be brought to account," Vice President Oktay has said, adding, "As of today, every single one of public personnel and bureaucrats will respond to the tutelage-aspiring threats of Kılıçdaroğlu by doubling their performance. Bring it on."

What happened?

Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) Chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu shared a video on his social media account on October 16, 2021, attaching the note, "I am calling to the bureaucrats of this country and I am calling on our people to bear witness."

In his video, Kılıçdaroğlu said:

"I am saying this frankly: You cannot serve the mafiatic order in the name of duty. You cannot consider illegal acts to be orders. You are the honorable officers of this state, not of the Erdoğan family."

In response to this, President and Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan argued that Kılıçdaroğlu threatened bureaucrats and committed a crime. "This statement is an open confession of the fact that the CHP mentality is a mentality of tutelage," Erdoğan said, adding, "Especially calling on the bureaucracy [to stand] against the elected government is nothing other than making a call for tutelage."

Kılıçdaroğlu responded by reiterating his point: "I am saying this again: No matter who fulfils illegal orders, whoever puts their hands in poor people's pockets, I will be against them even if Erdoğan is with them."

Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Parliamentary Group Deputy Chair Meral Danış Beştaş spoke about the debate and said that the remarks of Kılıçdaroğlu could not be considered threats against bureaucrats.

Danış Beştaş argued that the government put bureaucrats up to their unlawful acts: "In fact, by fulfilling an unlawful order for which they are not responsible, they turn out to be responsible. This government will be sent away at the ballot box, but this is a call aimed at making the ones who commit this crime aware of this. We made this call several times before." (KÖ/SD)