Kılıçdaroğlu slams government for 'admitting exploitation of refugees'

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Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) Chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu talked about the refugee issue at his party's parliamentary group meeting today (May 10).

Recalling President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's recent statement that "we founded the Free Syrian Army with America," Kılıçdaroğlu said, "It is a historic confession. It is a sentence that is a disgrace to Turkey historically. What did I say? The imperial powers do not hold fire in their hands, they use tongs. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is the imperial powers' tong in the Middle East."

"On October 5, 2012, he said his famous words: 'We will perform prayers in the Umayyad Mosque.' Do you see the personalization in the state administration? This mentality has brought Turkey to where it is today," said Kılıçdaroğlu, mentioning the economic crisis.

Al recalling the picture of the dead body of Alan Kurdi, a two-year-old Kurdish boy from Syria who lost his life after a boat carrying refugees capsized off the coast of Turkey in 2015, Kılıçdaroğlu said, "The Mediterranean has turned into a refugee grave. Erdoğan is responsible for that photograph. Also, it is the imperial powers. The EU presses us 'not send refugees.' They say, 'We will give you 3 billion Euro.'

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"Ans Syrians now are with us as a people whose labor is exploited. And [the government] admits this," he said, referring to recent remarks of Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu that businesspeople "exploit Syrians in their factories and complain about the Syrians at the same time" and they would be the first to rise up had the refugees gone.

"You openly say 'We employ Syrians informally and without tax, we are exploiting their labor.' I am faced with such a picture for the first time. An official who has to prevent informal labor says they work informally." (AS/VK)