Erdoğan Should Either Keep Promise Of Impartiality Or Resign, Says Kılıçdaroğlu

Turkish main opposition party leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu urged President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to keep his constitutional promise to remain politically impartial, saying otherwise he should leave his post and return to the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party).

“Our Constitution has a very basic rule that the president is politically impartial. He [Erdoğan] took an oath in Parliament to treat all citizens and all parties equally,” Kılıçdaroğlu, who heads the Republican People's Party (CHP), told reporters in İstanbul after a meeting with representatives of Roma associations and foundations.

“We expect him to honor his oath. Otherwise he should leave that post. He can then be the co-chairman of the AKP,” he said, referring to the ruling party.

Erdoğan, a founding leader of the AK Party who was elected as president on Aug. 10, called on supporters to vote in the upcoming parliamentary elections slated for June 7 for a new constitution during a meeting in the central Anatolian province of Kırşehir on Friday. Erdoğan wants the AK Party to have a parliamentary majority sufficient to amend the Constitution so as to clear the way to replace the current parliamentary system with a presidential one.

Erdoğan is also expected to start rallies across Turkey to “thank” voters for electing him as president on Aug. 10. Critics call it a pretext to hold election rallies for the AK Party despite his oath of impartiality.(Cihan/Today's Zaman)

SHOTLIST
TURKEY, ISTANBUL, 31 JAN 2015

VAR of Kılıçdaroğlu's statements

DURATION: 02:08