European socialists condemn mob boss' threats against Turkey's opposition leader

The Party of European Socialists (PES) slammed on Saturday the threatening remarks from a convicted Turkish criminal, Alaattin Çakıcı, against main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu.

Çakıcı, known for his ties to the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader and junior coalition partner to the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), publicly warned the leader of the biggest opposition party in Turkey to “watch his step” after Kılıçdaroğlu blasted the government for allowing the release of “mob bosses and narcotraffickers’’ during a CHP parliamentary group meeting on Tuesday.

“These remarks are unacceptable and unworthy of respectable public life. No convicted criminal belongs in politics," PES President Sergei Stanishev said.

Çakıcı was released as part of an amnesty law designed to free up to one-third of the country’s prison population after MHP leader Bahçeli called for a general amnesty, specifically citing Çakıcı.

“We call on the justice minister and the Turkish government to respond to these threats and support Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu,” Stanishev said.