When Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu said recently, “I am worried about political murders”, the State Prosecution in Ankara launched an official investigation. However, the government, instead of taking precautions, reacted against Kılıçdaroğlu’s statements.
The Presidential Communications Director Fahrettin Altun called them “unfounded allegations”, and the Minister of Interior Süleyman Soylu made accusations against Kılıçdaroğlu saying, “This is a tactic of FETO [followers of the exiled Fethullah Gülen, said by the government to have instigated the failed 2016 military coup]”.
Cevat Öneş, former Deputy Undersecretary of the National Intelligence Organisation (MIT), spoke to DW Türkçe on the subject expressing his agreement with the CHP Leader. He pointed to the upcoming elections in Turkey:
“I fear there could be incidents of provocation, there are strong suspicions” he said.
Cevat Öneş emphasised the importance of the prosecution taking action on this issue, but accused the judiciary of delaying. He continued: “Why has no action been taken so far, though? We need to ask the question why precautions have not been taken, especially in relation to matters such as attacks against politicians, journalists and artists.”
Recalling a previous attack on Kılıçdaroğlu, he added: “The judiciary remained a bystander. It was a salutary lesson indicating clearly that the people who organised the incident, the attackers, the individuals actually seen at the lynching, received support from members of the ruling party.”
Öneş recalled that there had been a protest outside the home of Good Party leader Meral Akşener, that Future Party leader Selçuk Özdağ had been beaten up in Ankara, and that there had been attacks on a number of journalists.
“We know that [the handling of] these incidents is being avoided. We can also see that all these events are supported by the ranks of political power and even by those at the very top.”
Öneş noted that the mafia leader Sedat Peker made an announcement about the existence of death lists on social media among his confessions.
“No sort of investigation has been carried out into the information related to this issue that Sedat Peker has revealed in his Tweets from abroad. The concrete data in these Tweets raises suspicions that we may face political murders in Turkey.”
In response to the question: “Do you expect provocation as we go into the electoral process?” Öneş replied:
“I cannot say no in answer to that question. Because in such a climate, we have to take into account the possibility that certain elements, especially those who want to obstruct Turkey’s democracy, will resort to such measures.”
