Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu on Thursday said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan knew about a July 15 coup attempt before it started, asking why Erdoğan had prepared three different planes in three different cities for an escape if he was not aware of the coup attempt in advance, Cumhuriyet reported.
“Mr. President and Chairman of the Justice and Development Party [Recep Tayyip Erdoğan] said we prepared three different planes in three different cities while he was talking about the night of the coup. That means you knew about it before it started,” said Kılıçdaroğlu, speaking to Habertürk TV from Hendek, a stop on the March of Justice he launched on June 15 in Ankara.
Reiterating that July 15 was a “controlled coup attempt,” the CHP leader said, “A coup is controlled coup when it is known beforehand, not prevented and its results made use of.”
“July 15 must be investigated, but the government instead preferred to cover it up. The two persons [Chief of General Staff Gen. Hulusi Akar and National Intelligence Organization (MİT) Undersecretary Hakan Fidan] who knew the most about the coup did not come and testify to Parliament,” added Kılıçdaroğlu.
“I know many dark points in this coup attempt.”
Regarding a statement by Erdoğan last week that said the CHP leader must seek justice in Parliament lest he be “invited by the judiciary [to testify]”, Kılıçdaroğlu said: “I don’t have time to waste on blackmail. If you have a trump card, then it’s the prosecutor and judge.
Prosecutors and judges are already yours. You can come and try. We don’t have anything to fear.”
The CHP leader also said he plans to have a meeting in İstanbul’s Maltepe district, the final stop of his March of Justice.
The March of Justice, which was launched by Kılıçdaroğlu in protest of the arrest of CHP deputy Enis Berberoğlu, started in Ankara, is expected to last for 25 days and end at Maltepe Prison, where Berberoğlu is jailed.
Berberoğlu was sentenced to 25 years in prison on June 14 for leaking information for a report on National Intelligence Organization (MİT) trucks transporting weapons to jihadists in Syria.