CHP Chairman Özgür Özel said that during his visit to the CHP, İbrahim Kalın, the head of the National Intelligence Organization (MİT), had asked for help in examining his party's applications abroad. Özel's statement drew reactions from CHP members both at home and abroad.
CHP members abroad called on Özgür Özel to resign: We do not forgive this ignorance!
Özgür Özel's announcement that MİT will be asked for help for CHP membership applications from abroad drew the reaction of CHP members abroad. Lawyer Seyit Sönmez, who deals with the cases of many citizens living abroad who are under investigation due to their posts here and who face problems, including detention, when entering and leaving Turkey, made an important warning.
Sönmez said that it is quite normal for people living abroad to react to this statement:
“Because in previous years, thousands of dissidents living abroad were reported with the contribution of some pro-establishment foundations and MIT. Thousands of people who were leaders or members of Alevi or Kurdish associations were prevented from entering the country because of these reports and lawsuits were filed against them. MİT also played an important role in these cases.”
Sönmez pointed out that the use of a securityist language in recruitment could spill over into many areas of life and politics, and warned
“What will you say if he says, ”I'm canceling the election, agents have infiltrated the system"?
“When the government tries to prevent many social events such as press statements, rallies and concerts that it sees as a danger to itself, its main argument is the excuse that ‘there will be provocations, members of terrorist organizations will intervene’. This method works very well. If miners want to protest, they cancel it because ‘terrorist organizations will infiltrate’, if they want to protest for Mount Ida, they cancel it with the same excuse. It is unbelievable that the opposition, which aims for power, demands from a government that has lost its legitimacy and destroyed all democratic gains exactly the method used by the government. Let's think about a “poverty” rally of 1 million people planned by the CHP one day tomorrow. If he says, ‘There is infiltration’, ‘We cannot provide security’, therefore we are canceling it, who will be able to say what? In fact, what will you say as the opposition if he says, ‘I am canceling the election. US or Russian agents have infiltrated the system’?”
“It harms our party's struggle for freedom”
Meanwhile, after the CHP's former US representative Yurter Özcan, there was criticism against Özel in a written statement made on behalf of CHP volunteers in this country.
In the statement, the CHP's request for support from the MİT for its overseas organizations was considered an unacceptable blunder and even an act of madness.
The statement is as follows:
“If the CHP seeks help from an organization under AKP control, it would not only harm our party's struggle for independence and freedom, but also weaken the opposition. In addition, there are serious contradictions and a dangerous approach in the statements made about the representations abroad. An approach such as ‘approve our staff so that you don't find fault later’ is capitulation and completely against the principles of the CHP. Considering that the mayors whom the AKP later appointed trustees were once candidates with the approval of the YSK, it is not difficult to foresee that what the AKP-affiliated institutions call “white” one day, they can call “black” the next.”