ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey's main opposition leader on Tuesday accused the judiciary of doing the government's bidding after a prosecutor sought to lift his legal immunity, a step that would clear the way for him to be charged with insulting the judiciary over coup plot trials.
Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader of the Republican People’s Party, said that the prosecution of hundreds of alleged coup plotters has been turned into a "blood feud" in which judges are acting at the behest of the government against its political opponents rather than prosecuting real crimes.
"Everyone has the right to freedom and democracy in this country," Kilicdaroglu said. "We have no confidence at all in this judiciary system, no justice can come out of that trial."
The Turkish government says the prosecution of alleged coup plotters, including military officers, journalists and politicians, is a triumph of transparency.
Kilicdaroglu attracted the attention of prosecutors in November when he referred to the prison where the suspects are being held as a "concentration camp."
Before Kilicdaroglu took his place behind the lectern at his party’s meeting hall in the parliament building, another party member asked legislators to repeat his remarks in chorus that the prison in Silivri, near Istanbul, was a "concentration camp."
Hundreds of party members also marched in Istanbul to protest the prosecutor’s Monday request to lift Kilicdaroglu’s immunity.
"Lift my immunity," challenged Kilicdaroglu, adding that he will himself ask the Parliament to lift his legal immunity in a petition. "You can’t deter me … even if you send me to the gallows."
On Tuesday, a court ordered another retired general to be jailed pending trial in the case.
In a separate case, a Turkish court agreed Tuesday to hear the case against the ailing, 94-year-old former Turkish president and another senior general who face life imprisonment for seizing the power in a 1980 military coup. Kenan Evren and former air force commander Tahsin Sahinkaya were charged last week with crimes against the state.
The legal action against Evren and Sahinkaya comes as Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Islamic-rooted government, which has won three general elections in a row, is curtailing the military’s clout in Turkey.
