Sezgin Tanrıkulu, a deputy from Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), has reportedly slammed his party’s policies towards Syria and the Kurdish political movement in Turkey, the Diken news website reported on Thursday.
At a CHP closed-door group meeting on Wednesday, Tanrıkulu reportedly criticized the CHP’s decision to support the ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) parliamentary motion to allow cross-border military operations in Syria and Iraq.
He also called on his party to be more vocal in standing up against the government crackdown on the Kurdish political movement in Turkey, particularly with regard to the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) as the AKP-led Interior Ministry has ousted several elected HDP mayors over alleged terrorism links.
While the CHP has supported the parliamentary motion granting the government the authority to carry out military incursions into Iraq and Syria as well as the military operation launched against Kurdish militia units in Syria on Oct. 9, it has expressed disapproval of the replacement of HDP mayors with government-appointed trustees.