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Hurriyet, Turkey
Nov 23 2011
ErdoÄ?an aims to destroy Atatürk's legacy: CHP
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
ANKARA ` Hürriyet Daily News
Debate over the Dersim killings deepens as PM ErdoÄ?an promises to
reveal new documents on the military operations while the main
opposition leader accuses ErdoÄ?an of trying to discredit Mustafa Kemal
Atatürk
Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal
KılıçdaroÄ?lu addresses his party's lawmakers at a group meeting. DAILY
NEWS photo, Selahattin SÃ-NMEZ
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ErdoÄ?an's active involvement in a debate
over the 1938 Dersim killings is a reflection of his underlying
intention to discredit the legacy of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, Turkey's
main opposition leader has said.
`Your intention is to settle scores with Atatürk, to dispose of the
Republic. We are aware of that,' Kemal KılıçdaroÄ?lu said yesterday at
the parliamentary group meeting of his Republican People's Party
(CHP).
KılıçdaroÄ?lu spoke shortly after ErdoÄ?an said he would today disclose
documents exposing the CHP's role in a military crackdown on a 1938
Alevi rebellion in Dersim, now Tunceli, in which thousands perished.
ErdoÄ?an challenged KılıçdaroÄ?lu, himself an Alevi from Tunceli, to
face up to his party's responsibility for the killings which took
place at a time when the CHP ruled Turkey in a single-party regime.
`It's a golden opportunity for the CHP to face up to the Dersim
tragedy as its chairman is a tribe member from Tunceli. You're from
Tunceli, why do you shy away?' ErdoÄ?an said.
In an unusually emotional outburst, KılıçdaroÄ?lu said: `Yes, I'm from
Dersim, and I am a son of this nation. Now, I'm the chairman of the
CHP and I am proud of it. God willing, I will also be prime minister
soon.'
Denouncing ErdoÄ?an's rhetoric as `provocative and divisive,' the CHP
leader ridiculed his advocacy of the people of Tunceli, a province
where the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has never won a
parliamentary seat.
`You cannot be the mouthpiece of the people who suffered in Dersim.
The people of Dersim would consider your advocacy an insult,'
KılıçdaroÄ?lu said.
He said the CHP had nothing to be ashamed of in its past, while
accusing ErdoÄ?an of being an heir to those who opposed Atatürk's quest
for independence after World War I but favored instead a British or
U.S. mandate.
`Yesterday you were advocates of a mandate and today you are
sub-contractors,' he said, echoing his earlier accusations that the
AKP's foreign policy was dictated by Washington.
KılıçdaroÄ?lu chided the 12 lawmakers who issued a joint declaration
last week against Hüseyin Aygün, the CHP's Tunceli deputy who
re-ignited the debate over Dersim and stirred intra-party tensions
with remarks asserting that the CHP was responsible for the killings.
`You may harm me, but you cannot harm the CHP, I will not allow this
to happen,' he said.
ErdoÄ?an dismissed KılıçdaroÄ?lu's suggestion that incumbent prime
ministers should apologize for past atrocities on behalf of the
Turkish state.
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Nov 23 2011
ErdoÄ?an aims to destroy Atatürk's legacy: CHP
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
ANKARA ` Hürriyet Daily News
Debate over the Dersim killings deepens as PM ErdoÄ?an promises to
reveal new documents on the military operations while the main
opposition leader accuses ErdoÄ?an of trying to discredit Mustafa Kemal
Atatürk
Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal
KılıçdaroÄ?lu addresses his party's lawmakers at a group meeting. DAILY
NEWS photo, Selahattin SÃ-NMEZ
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ErdoÄ?an's active involvement in a debate
over the 1938 Dersim killings is a reflection of his underlying
intention to discredit the legacy of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, Turkey's
main opposition leader has said.
`Your intention is to settle scores with Atatürk, to dispose of the
Republic. We are aware of that,' Kemal KılıçdaroÄ?lu said yesterday at
the parliamentary group meeting of his Republican People's Party
(CHP).
KılıçdaroÄ?lu spoke shortly after ErdoÄ?an said he would today disclose
documents exposing the CHP's role in a military crackdown on a 1938
Alevi rebellion in Dersim, now Tunceli, in which thousands perished.
ErdoÄ?an challenged KılıçdaroÄ?lu, himself an Alevi from Tunceli, to
face up to his party's responsibility for the killings which took
place at a time when the CHP ruled Turkey in a single-party regime.
`It's a golden opportunity for the CHP to face up to the Dersim
tragedy as its chairman is a tribe member from Tunceli. You're from
Tunceli, why do you shy away?' ErdoÄ?an said.
In an unusually emotional outburst, KılıçdaroÄ?lu said: `Yes, I'm from
Dersim, and I am a son of this nation. Now, I'm the chairman of the
CHP and I am proud of it. God willing, I will also be prime minister
soon.'
Denouncing ErdoÄ?an's rhetoric as `provocative and divisive,' the CHP
leader ridiculed his advocacy of the people of Tunceli, a province
where the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has never won a
parliamentary seat.
`You cannot be the mouthpiece of the people who suffered in Dersim.
The people of Dersim would consider your advocacy an insult,'
KılıçdaroÄ?lu said.
He said the CHP had nothing to be ashamed of in its past, while
accusing ErdoÄ?an of being an heir to those who opposed Atatürk's quest
for independence after World War I but favored instead a British or
U.S. mandate.
`Yesterday you were advocates of a mandate and today you are
sub-contractors,' he said, echoing his earlier accusations that the
AKP's foreign policy was dictated by Washington.
KılıçdaroÄ?lu chided the 12 lawmakers who issued a joint declaration
last week against Hüseyin Aygün, the CHP's Tunceli deputy who
re-ignited the debate over Dersim and stirred intra-party tensions
with remarks asserting that the CHP was responsible for the killings.
`You may harm me, but you cannot harm the CHP, I will not allow this
to happen,' he said.
ErdoÄ?an dismissed KılıçdaroÄ?lu's suggestion that incumbent prime
ministers should apologize for past atrocities on behalf of the
Turkish state.
Tuesday, November 22, 2011