Erdoğan brands opposition MP Ahmet Şık 'terrorist'

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has called opposition TİP lawmaker Ahmet Şık a “terrorist” after Şık referred to the ruling AKP as “a crime organization” and envisaged that it will be shut down.

Friday September 02 2022 08:57 pm

This collage photo shows President Erdoğan (L) and TİP lawmaker Ahmet Şık (R).

Duvar English

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Sept. 2 referred to Workers’ Party (TİP) lawmaker Ahmet Şık as a “terrorist,” following Şık’s comments that the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) “is a crime organization and will be shut down.”

“He is a terrorist. Beyond being a terrorist, he somehow got the chance to become a lawmaker. His power is not enough to close the AKP,” Erdoğan said after the Friday prayer while answering the questions of journalists.

"Let’s see how he will save himself. Because he has been involved in many terrorist organizations. A lawsuit has already been filed in this regard,” Erdoğan added.

Responding to Erdoğan’s remarks, Şık said on Twitter: “When your power comes to an end, members of the judiciary that care about the dignity of the law will decide who is the terrorist and who is the gang leader.”

İktidarınız sona erip memlekete hukuk geldiğinde, menfaatini değil hukukun haysiyetini önemseyen şimdiki gibi kuklaya çevirdiklerinize benzemeyen yargı mensupları kimin terörist kimin çete lideri olduğuna karar verecek.
O zaman konuşuruz bu konuyu. https://t.co/BMZWORRdEg
— ahmet şık (@sahmetsahmet) September 2, 2022

Earlier this week, Şık held an interview with journalist Ruşen Çakır from Medyascope, referring to the AKP as “a crime organization masquerading as a political party.”

“We are talking about a structure whose members will stand trial over being a crime organization (referring to the AKP). Let those who are not involved in crime and are clean stay in parliament. But the AKP will be shut down because of this! If this period is over, the AKP will not be seen as a political party. The AKP will be shut down for being a crime organization,” Şık said.

After his remarks, the AKP filed a lawsuit against him.

The AKP’s lawyers said in their petition that Şık’s remarks were “an attack against the party’s rights and respectability” and that the AKP was conducting its activities in line with law and regulations.