Targeting the ‘March of Justice’ initiated by the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Saturday accused the opposition of supporting terrorism.
Speaking to provincial heads of the governing Justice and Development Party (AKP), President Erdoğan, who is also the chairman of the AKP, argued that the CHP has reached a point of alliance with terrorist groups.
“You cannot argue that you are marching for justice when you never even imagined marching against terrorist groups, but you have started a march supporting terrorists,” Erdoğan said, addressing Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, chairman of the CHP.
According to Erdoğan, the marchers’ destination is the Qandil Mountains and Pennsylvania, a reference to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the faith-based Gülen movement.
Kılıçdaroğlu launched the March of Justice in protest of the arrest of CHP deputy Enis Berberoğlu. The march is expected to last for 25 days and end at Maltepe Prison in İstanbul 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.
Participation in the march has been on the rise with presence of various opposition groups.