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.
