“(There is an attempt to) eradicate a civil society movement”
Another deputy from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), Hasan Hami Yıldırım, has resigned from his party in protest of the graft scandal.
Another deputy from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), Hasan Hami Yıldırım, has resigned in protest of the government's response to a graft scandal that has rocked Turkey's political and business elite.
Yıldırım, the party's Burdur deputy, announced his resignation in a press conference on Tuesday. With Yıldırım's resignation, the number of AK Party seats in Parliament dropped to 320 and the number of independent lawmakers rose to 12.
Yıldırım slammed what he called a campaign of “insults” and “defamation” against Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen and the Hizmet movement, criticizing the government's description of Hizmet as a “gang.”
“[There is an attempt to] eradicate a civil society movement,” Yıldırım said, adding that the AK Party is refusing to correct its mistakes.
Three deputies -- Erdal Kalkan, Ertuğrul Günay and Haluk Özdalga -- left the party on Friday, continuing a string of resignations that started in November and has reached seven deputies.
Friday's resignations followed a Thursday decision by the ruling party to refer the three deputies to its disciplinary committee for expulsion over critical remarks they had made about the investigation.
Kalkan announced his resignation on his Twitter account early on Friday. The deputy directed harsh criticism at the AK Party and its chairman, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan: “Political parties are not the personal property of politicians. They are not the property of Erdoğan either. Political parties are social products that belong to the millions of people who created them.”
Günay announced his resignation in a press conference on Friday in Parliament. He said the AK Party is facing “very serious allegations,” adding that though the ruling party had to confidently face its challenges, its officials were betraying a defensive mindset.
After Günay's statement, Özdalga also called a press conference to announce his resignation. He said that a number actions the government has taken since the first raids in the corruption investigation on Dec. 17 have been seen as an open interference in the judiciary. “The police force has, so to speak, been put through a cutting machine,” he said, referring to firing or reassignment of some 500 police officers who were involved in the investigation. “And the amendment on the [regulations of the] police force has violated the Constitution, other laws and the conscience of the people,” he added.
With Yıldırım's resignation, the AK Party's parliamentary group dropped from 327 to 320 in two months.
Yıldırım accused the government of trying to obstruct the graft investigation, and said that the prime minister, government officials, media and pro-government social media users are insulting the Hizmet movement. He added that the AK Party is slowly losing its common sense as well as its sense for pluralism and democracy, going on to accuse it of authoritarian tendencies.
The string of resignations in the AK Party began with İdris Bal, who quit in late November over his opposition to the government's plan to close Turkey's prep schools. Bal was followed by Hakan Şükür in mid-December, who resigned for the same reason. Earlier this week, former Interior Minister İdris Naim Şahin jumped ship as well, citing disagreements over a number of issues, including the party's stance of the recent corruption scandal.
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