Turkey: Opposition Party Stresses Opposition To Coups

The Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) is opposed to all types of pro-coup mindsets, the Turkish opposition party's co-chair said on Tuesday.

Speaking to his party's parliamentary group, Mithat Sancar downplayed any threat from Sunday's controversial statement by some retired admirals, a statement many saw as laying the groundwork for a coup attempt.

"The government, as always, with political cunning and opportunism, has been rushing to create a coup threat from this declaration and to use it politically," said Sancar.

Citing the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party's nearly two decades in power, he added: "They have been playing the victim for 19 years."

Sancar underlined his opposition to all types of pro-coup mentalities.

"We have a political tradition that always takes the clearest attitude against military and civilian coups and fights against all kinds of coup mentalities," he said.

"I want to say once again that the way to solve all issues is democracy, politics, and democratic politics," he added.

On Sunday, the ex-admirals posted a statement online urging against anything that could make the 1936 Montreux Convention the subject of debate. Prosecutors in the capital Ankara subsequently started an investigation into the men behind the statement.

The controversial statement also denounced alleged "efforts" to show the Turkish Armed Forces as departing from the path laid down by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey.

It also warned that Turkey could face "dangerous … events, risks, and threats to its survival, something which we know from our history." -