HDP questions why Defense Minister Akar is silent on coup speculations

HDP deputy chairman Saruhan Oluç has said that rumors of a new coup attempt in Turkey are aimed to provide the ruling AKP with a story of victimization, questioning why Defense Minister Hulusi Akar is silent on the issue if there is really a threat of a coup attempt on the horizon. Main opposition CHP chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu on the other hand said that the AKP initiated the rumors to "cover up its inaptitude" in governing the country.

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Saruhan Oluç, the deputy chairman of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), has said that the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) is bringing speculations of a new coup attempt back on the agenda to show itself as a “victim” and questioned why Defense Minister Hulusi Akar is silent on the issue if there is really a threat of a coup attempt.

“A coup discussion has been initiated and this has no basis at all. If a coup happened in this country, it has always been initiated by the army. Then why is Defense Minister Hulusi Akar silent, is there any statement from within the army, why is there no statement? Because there is no such discussion,” Oluç said on May 5 during a press conference at the parliament.

“The government is trying to create a story of victimization, i.e. it is telling the society 'Look, we are victims here, they are taking us away with a coup.' There is no such thing. You [the government] are consuming your own self; there is no need for anyone to take you off [the power] with a coup,” he said.

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Speculation of a new coup attempt surfaced recently after pro-government media outlets, columnists and senior AKP officials have accused the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) of “calling for a coup” over their remarks criticizing the AKP and indicating that they see a change in the ruling power soon.

The accusations concerned the remarks of CHP lawmaker Özgür Özel and CHP’s Istanbul chairwoman Canan Kafatancıoğlu.

“The end of the regime of the [presidential] palace, the order of the palace is about to come. That fall will bring an end to these assignments that Atatürk [the founder of modern Turkish Republic] would regret,” CHP lawmaker Özgür Özel said on April 30. Özel was referring to the appointment of Prof. Ahmet Yaramış, a member of the executive board of the controversial Ensar Foundation, as the new head of the Turkish Historical Institute (TTK).

Kaftancıoğlu on the other hand said the AKP will no longer be the political party in power in the upcoming period as a result of “an early election or in another way.”

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Afterwards, AKP figures targeted the two CHP officials on their social media accounts, with some even tweeting thinly unveiled threats against them.

Coup attempt rumors aim to 'cover up gov't inaptitude,' says CHP chair

CHP chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu addressed the speculations of “a new coup attempt” on May 5 saying that the rumors had been initiated by the AKP to “cover up its inaptitude” in governing the country.

“This is an absolutely unnecessary discussion. For God's sake, who does bring a coup into the agenda? This is something that is not going to happen. No coup would happen in this country anymore,” Kılıçdaroğlu told daily Hürriyet columnist Abdülkadir Selvi, saying there is no innuendo of any sort of a “coup attempt” behind Kaftancıoğlu and Özel's remarks.

“The reason why this issue has been so much brought to the agenda is because there is a inapt ruling power and they are trying to hide this inaptitude from the public…And they are initiating an unnecessary, a redundant coup discussion to cover up this inaptitude,” he said.