The chairman of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) of Turkey, Ozgur Ozel, said that during the closed-door briefing of the National Assembly by the government, nothing was said to support President Erdogan’s claim that Turkey is under threat from Israel.
Members of the Plenary of the Turkish National Assembly were briefed today, October 8, by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Defense, Hakan Fidan and Yasar Güler, on the developments in Gaza and Lebanon, as well as the recent statements of Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Israel. The meeting was held behind closed doors, which means that its minutes will not be made public until ten years have passed.
Ozgur Ozel said on his way out of the meeting that he is bound by the law and cannot say anything that was said during the closed session of the Plenary, however he said that he can say “what was not said”. The leader of the main opposition Kemalist party said that he denounces to the people the manipulation of public opinion that the president is attempting and the distraction from the current problems inside the country.
Specifically, the CHP president stated:
“Nothing more was said than what analysts say on the evening news about foreign policy and defense strategy. They said that these matters could not be discussed openly, but we heard nothing in closed session that we did not know.
“Our nation must be sure that Turkey should not be alarmed by Erdogan’s words, there is not a word that supports them, there is nothing that you do not know. There is nothing (to document) that Israel will attack.
“I would like to tell the nation here that today I have been confirmed. Erdogan threw a conversation that Israel will attack so that Turkey does not talk about unemployment and poverty, the prevailing economic crisis and because with the policies since March 31 (including the local elections in which the party was defeated of Tayyip Erdoğan) does not listen to the voice of the nation, the pensioners, the workers, the farmers, because he was punished at the ballot box, because the CHP became the first party after 47 years, because the CHP retained its strength and because Erdoğan could not to unite his party”.
Ozgur Ozel also said that when his party made its assessments before the National Assembly session, it had come to the conclusion that “an Israeli attack on Turkey could not be explained by logic, by Turkey’s strength, by the balance of power internationally, with the power of NATO”. However, they concluded that they should listen to what explanation the president of the country had to give after saying all this.
It is recalled that on the occasion of his speech for the start of the new parliamentary term, on October 1, the Turkish president claimed that “after Palestine and Lebanon, the Israeli government, motivated by the delusion of the Promised Land, will target the homeland us” – a position that alludes to biblical references to the State of Israel and has been increasingly voiced recently by top government officials, political analysts and Turkey’s Turkish media as a sign that Israel is turning against the territorial integrity of the country.
The Turkish president added that “for our homeland, our nation and our independence, we will stand against this state terrorism with every means at our disposal.” He even pointed out that Lebanon, which Israel has attacked, is only 180 kilometers from the southernmost point of the Turkish border, i.e. a distance of 2.5 hours by car.
On the same wavelength were the statements made today by the leader of the Nationalist Action Party (MİP) and Tayyip Erdogan’s government partner, Devlet Bakhceli, who argued that Turkey is the target of Israel’s attacks and the “urgent” use of force is necessary to stop Israel. Specifically, speaking at the meeting of his party’s Parliamentary Group, the leader of the extreme nationalist MHP referred to Israel saying: “Today, the issue is not Beirut but Ankara. The hidden agenda is the Turkish homeland. The next stage of missiles and assassinations in the Middle East is Anatolia.”
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