Fatih Tezcan, a pro-government public speaker and columnist, on Monday implied that main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) Chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu would be assassinated before he completes a “March of Justice” he launched on June 15.
“I hope he [Kılıçdaroğlu] will be not killed until July 9 so we can hear what he has to say… At that time they will start the actions that he mentioned … and we will come towards the end of the issue slowly …” said Tezcan in a tweet, as a follow-up to another message where he summarized what Kılıçdaroğlu had said in an interview with a daily: “On July 9, we will hold a great rally and announce our demands. We will take new actions until what we demand is accomplished.”
Tezcan’s tweets came a day after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan accused the opposition of supporting terrorism by means of the march.
“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 Kılıçdaroğlu.
Two days after the start of the march, Erdoğan said Kılıçdaroğlu must seek justice in Parliament lest he be “invited by the judiciary [to testify].”
“Holding ‘Justice’ placards in one’s hands doesn’t bring justice. Inviting people into the streets is for the interest of no one. If he [Kılıçdaroğlu] thinks they will find justice in this, he is wrong. Parliament is the place to seek justice. Don’t be surprised if the judiciary invites you [to testify] tomorrow,” said Erdoğan.
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.
On June 29, pro-government education union Eğitim Bir-Sen’s İstanbul branch head Talat Yavuz threatened participants of the March of Justice “not to test the limit of the nation’s patience further.”