Are they threatening you with your wealth to keep refugees here, CHP head asks Erdoğan

CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has asked President Erdoğan to reveal what he promised to foreign countries in exchange for keeping refugees in Turkey. "Are they threatening you with your personal wealth again?" he asked.

Monday August 16 2021 01:41 pm

Duvar English

Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has asked President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan whether he was threatened by foreign countries with his personal wealth to keep refugees in Turkey.

"Are they threatening you with your personal wealth again?" Kılıçdaroğlu asked on Aug. 15, slamming Erdoğan for his policies regarding Afghan refugees.

Afghan refugees have been flocking to Turkey to escape from the Taliban for weeks. They've been crossing into Turkey's Van from Iran, numerous videos showed.

Erdoğan on Aug. 15 said that Turkey faces an Afghan refugee influx with the militant group's lightning advance.

In response, Kılıçdaroğlu said that solving the Afghan refugee issue can't be delayed, while asking Erdoğan whether the borders are not secure.

Sevgili Halkım,
Selden mağdur olan insanlarımızın yanında olabilmek için belediye başkanlarımızla birlikte bölgedeydik. Maalesef ülkece canımızın derdine düştüğümüz bu günlerde, bir de önümüzde Afganistan ve olası göçler konusu var; ve bunu başka bir zamana öteleme lüksümüz yok!
— Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu (@kilicdarogluk) August 15, 2021

"Erdoğan, I'm asking you: How can refugees who are 2,400 kilometers away from us threaten us? You said your government is in control of the borders? Is it not true? We know that you're not in control deliberately," the CHP chair said.

"You're admitting that you can't protect the borders and that you're keeping your promise to [U.S. President Joe] Biden," Kılıçdaroğlu added.

The CHP leader was referring to a program announced by the U.S. on the resettlement of Afghans.

Under the program, thousands more Afghans will have a chance to resettle as refugees in the United States. Afghans in the program would have to make their own way to a third country, where they will wait 12 to 14 months for their application to be processed.

A senior State Department official said Washington had been in discussion with neighboring countries on potential outflows, adding it was important that Pakistan's borders with Afghanistan remain open, while others might travel to Turkey via Iran.

"This country can't handle so many refugees. Tell the people what you promised [to foreign countries]. Are they threatening you with your personal wealth again!" Kılıçdaroğlu said.

"You say something in the morning and change your stance in line with the orders you get at night," he added.