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Turkey’s main opposition party leader was refused admission to the premises of the Turkish Statistical Institute in the capital city of Ankara on Friday.
Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the leader of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), was stopped at the entrance of the institute as the gate was closed by security guards to prevent him from entering the premises.
His efforts to persuade the guards to open the gate were unsuccessful, and as the group he was with had to leave, having been denied access, Kılıçdaroğlu issued a statement at the gate.
“We have asked for an appointment with the institution’s management. They’ve rejected our request and said that they will not see us. We’ve never seen such a thing before in the history of the republic,” he said.
The Turkish Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu tweeted, making an accusation against Kılıçdaroğlu.
“The chair of the main opposition party does not normally fall into the net of the PKK, the DHKP-C and crime organisations, and neither does he try to borrow their tactics and go raiding a building,” the minister said, referring to a resemblance in his behaviour with that of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the illegal Revolutionary People’s Party-Front (DHKP-C).
It is stated on the website of the Turkish Statistics Institute that citizens may personally visit the headquarters in Ankara to get information.
