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Politicians take ‘squatting’ row to a new low
Kılıçdaroğlu visited Gediktepe last week on the Turkish-Iraqi border, where 11 soldiers were killed in a terrorist attack staged by Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) terrorists last week. The CHP leader decided to travel to Gediktepe in response to Prime Minister Erdoğan, who had also visited the border area in the wake of the attack. Erdoğan went to the Turkish-Iraqi border area on June 20 following funerals for the slain soldiers in Van to see firsthand the area where terrorists crossed illegally into Turkey to carry out the attack.
Kılıçdaroğlu criticized a photograph of the prime minister sitting close to the border on the grounds that it was a sign of intimidation. Kılıçdaroğlu stood at the border, as opposed to squatting down, in response to the prime minister.
Justice and Development Party (AK Party) Deputy Chairman Hüseyin Çelik joined in the squatting versus standing debate on Saturday, saying, “There is a thin line between being brave and being downright stupid.” In remarks made at an AK Party district consultation convention in Hendek, Çelik said it is okay to stand up in trenches if sandbags are aligned with the level of one’s head. “And that is designed by soldiers. Look, we should distinguish between being brave and being stupid. Being courageous doesn’t mean you have to be a Don Quixote. If you are fighting an irregular armed force and your own soldiers and experts are telling you to do something a certain way, you have to do as they say.”
Kılıçdaroğlu was quick to offer a retort. He said Çelik, the former education minister, was using language that belied his level. “He has used a style that is worthy of him. I see why the Education Ministry is in its current condition after hearing Çelik’s words.”
Apart from one squatting and one standing up, there are other differences in the picture. Chief of General Staff Gen. İlker Başbuğ, who is seen in both pictures, is also squatting next to the prime minister during his Gediktepe visit. The trenches are lined with sandbags that go up about 80 centimeters. The area is one of the most dangerous regions in the fight against terrorism as the location happens to be used extensively by PKK terrorists who infiltrate Turkish borders. The sandbags in the picture with Kılıçdaroğlu are 1.5 meters high, and Başbuğ and the other generals are also standing with him. The picture was also taken not in Gediktepe but in a secure outpost in Şırnak. The press was not allowed here, and this picture was taken by the CHP’s private photographer.
Former chairman of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP), in remarks made on Sunday, commented on the Gediktepe exchanges, saying: “The prime minister and CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu should visit the mothers of this country who want peace. You can’t solve this problem by giving guns to 20-year-olds and have them stand watch at military posts. The problem is not on the other side of the military stations, it is behind it. The problem is the Kurdish question.”
Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli also criticized the dispute in remarks made at a regional convention of his party in the province of Malatya on Sunday. “One who wants to go to Gediktepe might stand up or sit down. Keeping this topic in the limelight to earn some parties political gain won’t do any good to anyone,” he said. He also criticized the prime minister’s statement calling on the PKK to lay down its arms, saying this was tantamount to surrendering to the terrorist organization and treating it as an equal.
Nine Turkish soldiers were killed at the Tekeli Battalion Command in the Şemdinli district of Hakkari on June 19 in the PKK attack. Two other soldiers were killed by a land mine in the same region, raising the number of slain soldiers to 11 in a day.
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