PM Erdoğan accuses CHP of lies, dishonesty in İstanbul speech

Erdoğan spoke to a large crowd assembled in İstanbul's Kızılçeşme Square. “Turkey is unified on democracy, law, justice and freedom. All our ministers have visited the 81 provinces of our country. The next bayram [celebration] will be a bayram of democracy,” Erdoğan said.

“We have two options ahead of us: On one side is the coup d'état constitution [of 1982]. And on the other side is the constitution of my nation. This is what this is about,” he said. The prime minister said there could be no arguing about the notion that sovereignty solely belongs to the nation. Those who want to discuss this will be given the right answer at the ballot. “Because they did not send their deputies to vote in Parliament,” he said, referring to the CHP, which boycotted the parliamentary vote on the package.

He also criticized the CHP for initially trying to put the blame of releasing a sex tape scandal that resulted in the resignation of the CHP's former leader on the Justice and Development Party (AK Party). He also lashed out at the CHP's new leader, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, and accused him of being dishonest for coming to the party's leadership behind the back of former CHP leader Deniz Baykal.

Erdoğan then criticized a poster in which the Islamic headscarf worn by many women in Turkey was replaced by the habit worn by Catholic nuns. He also said Kılıçdaroğlu had lied about the nun poster, which the CHP initially said was in fact prepared by the AK Party, but later revealed to have been published by the Avcılar Municipality, whose mayor is a CHP member. He called on Kılıçdaroğlu to apologize. “We will give them the appropriate answer on Sept. 12 at the ballot box,” he said.

Further addressing the topic of headscarves, the prime minister spoke of the CHP's successful move to repeal a constitutional amendment that would have allowed women who wear the headscarf to enter university campuses. “And now they say they'll solve the headscarf problem!” Erdoğan said, referring to a recent statement from Kılıçdaroğlu. It was none other than Kılıçdaroğlu who signed the petition that went to the constitutional court to repeal the headscarf law, Erdoğan said. “Be honest!” he told Kılıçdaroğlu.

The prime minister also said that the CHP in its anti-amendment package campaign never made mention of the actual content of the package. “We explain that we are changing the number of members of the Constitutional Court. There are currently 11 members, and four alternate members. We are adding two more and bringing this number to 17. But Parliament will not appoint any of the two new members. Parliament will choose from three candidates nominated by the bar association. It will choose. But when you look at European countries, almost all of them are elected by Parliament. In some, the government appoints some of the members.

He also talked about the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK), emphasizing that the change to the membership structure is similar. “They [the opposition] cannot even tolerate this because these bodies used to be their backyard. Now they will be the front yard of the nation.”

“Turkey will say ‘yes' in the referendum. Those who want a great Turkey, advanced democracy and freedoms say ‘yes.' Those who want the supremacy of law to be established are saying ‘yes.' Those who want to stop illegal gangs are saying ‘yes.' … İstanbul is also saying ‘yes',” the prime minister added.

A large crowd gathered in Kazlıçeşme Square in İstanbul's Zeytinburnu district to listen to PM Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as he rallied support for proposed constitutional reforms.

He said Turkey is nearing the time when it will have an advanced democracy and be fully ruled by law. He said his party has always fought against illegal gangs and shady structures. “We don't want to fight these anymore. We don't want to rule, but to serve our nation as servants.”

The prime minister termed the referendum a breaking point. “We will do this together,” he said.

He quoted Ottoman theologian Sheik Edebali, who said, “Let humans live so that the state might live.” The prime minister said that in Turkey the opposite had been the case and that democratically elected governments have been overthrown. “They tried to stifle the national will. Their coup was a severe blew to the nation and the development of the country. But they failed to reach their aims. They could not block the nation's march towards democracy.” He cited as examples the 1960 and 1980 coups as well as the Feb. 28, 1997 intervention. “They put the state in the center.”

Erdoğan also commented on recent voice recordings that revealed that some senior judges were willing to work together even with the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) to prevent a “yes” coming from the package. “However, Diyarbakır is saying ‘yes',” he said. The prime minister said the AK Party was the party of the entire nation, and never opted for ethnic or religious nationalism.

He said his party's metropolitan municipalities served local districts even if residents of those districts had not voted for them. “Every inch of this country where my citizens reside is important to us. We embrace our Sunni brothers and Alevi brothers with the same sincerity. Look at Tunceli. Who opened the first university there? We did. We didn't discriminate. For us, being Sunni or Alevi is not the criteria. This land is ours. This country is ours. We cannot discriminate. Where there are people, we will serve them.”

The prime minister said they wanted no one to feel humiliated or maltreated by the state because of their ethnic, religious or ideological views. “A system where only louder voices get their rights cannot be ethical, humane or moral,” Erdoğan said.

He responded to the opposition, which criticized the AK Party for making constitutional amendments according to its own wishes, by saying that his party had consulted with both the CHP and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), which rejected the government's request to even talk about the amendment page.