Gökçek’s recent discovery of CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu’s villa with a pool in Balıkesir brought him to the agenda. The irony of Kılıçdaroğlu owning such a villa is that he has been criticizing politicians who have such villas ever since he assumed the CHP’s leadership early this year and said he would never be one of them.
Speaking to Kanaltürk yesterday, Gökçek commented on the graffiti and said: “I have no intention to run for the position of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan [the leader of the Justice and Development Party and the current prime minister]. There is no even the slightest disagreement between him and me. My goal is to serve for yet another term as mayor, if my party and party leader approve. This graffiti is a cheap and ugly intrigue. It shows that the CHP is an intriguer. The CHP means intrigue.”
A group of three young people from the CHP Ankara youth branch were detained early on Sunday as they wrote “Tayyip will go, Gökçek will come [to power]” in graffiti in various parts of Ankara. The youths were released after delivering a deposition.
CHP Ankara youth branch head Umut Tunç came to the police station. Speaking to the press, he said Gökçek was attacking CHP leader Kılıçdaroğlu and added that the city’s mayor wants to become the next prime minister. Erdoğan recently said he will step down from party leadership if his party ranks second in the 2011 general elections. He said the youths’ actions did not aim to be provocative.
