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The Grand Turk
CHP chair Kılıçdaroğlu gives President Erdoğan Dec 5 as ‘deadline’ on Zarrab
2017-12-04
[Hurriyet Daily News] Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu has said he would give President Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First
until Dec. 5 to reveal who exposed state secrets to Ottoman Turkish-Iranian businessman Reza Zarrab, a key witness in the trial of a Ottoman Turkish bank executive in the United States over violations of Iran.
You and what army, Mr. Kilicdaroglu? Your job is to rubber stamp the sultan’s orders, not challenge him as if Turkey were still a democracy.
The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) previously gave the U.S. two diplomatic notes to return Zarrab to Turkey, on the grounds that he is "a clean guy," Kilicdaroglu said on Dec. 2 in an opening ceremony in the southern province of Mersin.

"[But] once Zarrab started to sing like a canary, then [the AKP said] he was a spy, a traitor. Up until yesterday, he was your guy and you were arm in arm. When he received the money, he was good, but now that he is talking, he is bad. I give Erdogan until Tuesday [Dec. 5] to explain who exposed the state’s secrets to Zarrab," the CHP leader said.

Kilicdaroglu’s comments came a day after Ottoman Turkish prosecutors ordered the seizure of Zarrab’s assets, citing a part of the Ottoman Turkish penal code that addresses the leaking of state secrets. Zarrab had previously claimed in a trial in a Manhattan court that he had paid millions of dollars in bribes to a former Ottoman Turkish economy minister to facilitate illegal gold transactions with sanctions-hit Iran.

"I live with the hope of 80 million people [in Turkey]. The 80 million want to live in this country in peace. We will fight for this together. We have written law and justice in the world of history. Everyone should know this very well. Law and justice is a right for all of us. We will fight until we achieve it," said Kilicdaroglu.

Kilicdaroglu also touched on the shift from the parliamentary system to the presidential system this year, which was realized through a referendum conducted on April 16, and said the parliamentary regime should be brought back.

"You are the ones who best know the danger that awaits Turkey. The first one is the one-man regime, replacing the democratic parliamentary system. You see what the one-man regime is. You see what Turkey has turned into. We need to remove Turkey from this dead end. We need to bring back the democratic regime. We need to bring back peace. This is why our women will knock on every door one by one on the path headed to 2019 [general elections]," he said.

Posted by:Fred

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