In reaction to a call by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for national mobilization against all terror organizations, Republican People’s Party (CHP) deputy group chairman Engin Altay said such a call would only be made in the event of war and would legitimize the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in international public opinion.
Holding a press conference at Parliament, Altay noted that states only wage war against other states and that they delegitimize terrorist organizations. According to Altay, Erdoğan’s call would turn the PKK, which he calls a “despicable terrorist organization,” into Turkey’s equal as a state.
President Erdoğan said earlier on Wednesday he was declaring a national mobilization against all terror organizations in the aftermath of twin bomb attacks in İstanbul on Saturday that claimed the lives of 44 people.
“I am appealing to all my citizens here. As head of the Turkish Republic and in line with the 140th article of our Constitution, I am declaring a national mobilization against all terror organizations, be it the PKK [outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK)], FETÖ [a phrase coined by the government to refer to the faith-based Gülen movement as a terrorist organization] or Daesh [Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)], no matter what method or discourse they employ,” Erdoğan said.