Kılıçdaroğlu replies to Nagehan Alçı: Yes, we still speak of a controlled coup

The justice procession headed by CHP General Chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, having set out from Ankara’s Güven Park on Thursday 15 June, completed its fifteenth day by reaching Hendek. Kılıçdaroğlu will spend the night here and start the sixteenth day of the march in the morning hours. At Hendek, where the Justice March completed its fifteenth day, Kılıçdaroğlu replied to Nagehan Alçı and Deniz Zeyrek's questions on a live broadcast by Habertürk station.

The key points from among Kılıçdaroğlu's comments are as follow:

* I hope that we will hold a pleasant rally in Istanbul Maltepe. If justice has been wounded in a country, that country cannot bring about peace within itself.

* I have advice from a doctor friend to keep a steady pace. Sometimes I overdo it and walk faster. I slow down a bit more on being warned and then keep up a certain pace.

* There is no time to lose with blackmail. If you are holding a trump card, prosecutors are available and judges are available. Go ahead with arrest and prosecution. What will happen? Am I going to think twice?

* You complain about the Gülen brotherhood. Who was it that installed the Gülen brotherhood within the state? If a person was to become a judge or to become a prosecutor or to become a provincial or sub-provincial governor, where did they go? They got permission from Pennsylvania first. Who made their appointments? If only they researched into it we would see that they have said what we said.

 ‘CONTROLLED COUP’

Kılıçdaroğlu responded as follows to Nagehan Alçı's question, ‘FETO’s extensions abroad who have managed to infiltrate the Western media use the term ‘controlled coup.’ Do you stand by your talk of a controlled coup?’

* Most certainly. Look, by controlled coup we mean that a coup that is known about, is not prevented and whose results are benefited from is called a controlled coup. Following the 15 July coup attempt, we said, ‘Whatever measures you are going to take bring them to parliament.’ They did not do so. There are two teachers who are on hunger strike. What connection do they have with FETO? I can give hundreds of examples. We are defending justice. Politicians cannot determine who is guilty. We have assigned the determination of guilt to politics. The prosecutor drafts the indictment at once and the judge rules at once.

* I have lived through three coups. There is something similar in this period to what was experienced in those coup periods. I have spoken of them all. 15 July must be investigated, but ruling circles are inclined not to investigate this but to cover it up. The two people most knowledgeable about the coup did not come to parliament and give information.

‘THERE ARE TWO 15 JULYS’

* I spoke of a controlled coup well before the referendum. His excellency the Prime-Minister wanted an investigation to be launched into the Adil Öksüz event. I asked which company the GPS device in Adil Öksüz’s possession was from. There has been a constant wish for the Adil Öksüz event to be closed. There are two 15 Julys. There is the street’s 15 July and the palace’s 15 July. An attempted coup was staged, the people came out into the street and the coup was prevented. This was the street’s 15 July. Then there is the palace’s 15 July.

* I want to set out with questions and look for the answer. This is why parliament is very important. If they came and gave information, this would be very significant. Had the prosecutors really been given freedom, many dimensions would have emerged.

* We are saying what we mean by the term ‘controlled’. You may not agree. I know it to be a very dark point in this coup attempt.

* The prosecutor drafts the indictment. The indictment is submitted to the court after the Minister of Justice reviews it. Is this not interference with the judiciary? For example, there is talk of a ‘mastermind’. Who is the mastermind? You are the prosecutor and you write this. The trial procedure is problematic and the initial procedure is problematic. His excellency the President, the general chair of the Justice and Development Party, speaks of the night of the coup and says, ‘We kept three different planes in three different places.’ This means that you had prior knowledge. Could these planes have taken off all of a sudden when he heard about the coup? There are many unknown things. Our demand is that it would be beneficial for this business to be gone over thoroughly, not on a political basis but with a view to the country’s future.

 ‘THEY DID NOT KEEP THEIR PROMISES’

* Democratically speaking, a pleasant atmosphere emerged in the aftermath of 15 July. Then 20 July came. We objected to the first decree. The closure of military hospitals. This had nothing to do with FETO. A decree with the force of law for winter tyres... They did not keep a single promise they made to us. We went to the palace and reached a consensus over the independence of the judiciary. When we spoke to the Prime-Minister with reference to decrees with the force of law and the state of emergency, they said, ‘We will implement them for a very short time.’ In spite of this, we voiced opposition. We said, ‘If all parties are opposed to the coup, why a state of emergency?’ It has become apparent that the country is to be governed under decrees with the force of law.

‘BERBEROĞLU'S DETENTION WAS THE LAST STRAW’

* Following the detention of members of parliament, I visited his excellency the Speaker of Parliament. He made a promise, saying, ‘I will obtain an opinion from constitutional jurists in this matter.’ I thanked him. Later I said, ‘Let me ask if an opinion has been obtained.’ No opinion had been obtained. The Speaker of Parliament tells me in front of the group deputy chairs that he will obtain an opinion, but does not do so. Enis Berberoğlu's detention was the last straw. Parliament has no mind of its own and looks to the palace. Just like the judiciary.

* There was a Constitutional Court ruling to the effect that MPs cannot be detained. We are opposed to parliamentary immunity in our party manifesto. Our thoughts have not changed. But we know that the judiciary must be independent. If the Constitutional Court is not to set aside its former ruling, it will say, ‘MPs cannot be detained.’ But it has been incapable of ruling for months. Why? It is looking to the palace.

 ‘WE DID NOT FALL INTO THIS TRAP’

* So, there is support from almost all segments of society. There is criticism and protest, too. But, we took a decision that even if they criticised us or protested against us, we would not stoke up tension. We drew up a twelve-point circular and gave it to all who came. Everybody who has joined the march has obeyed it to an extent that has really surprised me.

* Just now, the ruling party can strip any MP of their immunity with a majority vote. So, why was this done through a constitutional amendment? It was done in preparation for the referendum and we did not fall into this trap, either.

 ‘WE WANT TO LIVE UNDER A JUST ORDER’

* Why the march? Because there is no justice in Turkey. Justice is a very noble concept and the shared aim of all prophets is justice. There can be no democracy in a country in which there is no justice. There can be none who think differently in a country in which there is no justice. We want to live under a just order.