Opposition says intel agency 'acting as an institution of AKP'

Duvar English

The National Intelligence Agency (MİT) should position itself at an equal distance from all political parties, said main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) group deputy chair Engin Altay.

Altay's comment came as a response to the presence of multiple officials from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) at the opening of the new MİT headquarters in the capital Ankara on Jan. 6.

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"MİT should be an institution of the government, not of a party-government, and it should position itself as such," Altay said, adding: "Were all parties invited to the opening? If not, why was AKP spokesperson Ömer Çelik there?"

Altay said that the presence of so many AKP officials at the ceremony "had damaged the objectivity and nationality of MİT."

"An opening ceremony with only AKP officials is nothing but recklessness on the path to building a one-party government," Altay said.

Altay noted that MİT chief Hakan Fidan had quit his post for the parliamentary elections of 2015, only to return to it after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan called him his "vault of secrets" and disapproved of his running for MP.

"The primary duty of both Erdoğan and the MİT chief is to protect the credibility and prestige of their institutions. MİT should act as an institution of the government, not of the AKP," he said.

"We should ask to the host of the ceremony and the President: Has an invitation been sent to the political parties in the parliament to attend the ceremony of an institution which embodies the term 'national' in its name? If not, what is AKP spokesperson Ömer Çelik doing in the ceremony? The one-man rule is unfortunately damaging all of the institutions of the country and annihilating the institutions' cultures," he further said.

On Jan. 6, Erdoğan unveiled MİT's new headquarters, a vast complex that has been dubbed “the fortress” and covers 5,000 acres in the Etimesgut district of Ankara.

At the opening, Erdoğan praised the work of MİT, saying that the nation has “gained the capability to act in line with its own interests across the world without needing any country’s consent or aid.”