Turkey opposition chief accuses Erdogan of influencing courts

CAMLIDERE, Turkey: Turkey's main opposition leader on Tuesday accused President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of influencing the judiciary, speaking on the trail of his unprecedented protest march in defiance of the Turkish strongman leader.

Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu called the march after former journalist-turned- CHP lawmaker Enis Berberoglu was sentenced by an Istanbul court to 25 years in prison last week on charges of leaking classified information to a newspaper.

Kilicdaroglu's trek to Istanbul from Ankara is expected to take almost a month and represents by far his biggest challenge to Erdogan since he took over the CHP in 2010.

Every week, the party leaders address their lawmakers in parliament in Ankara, but on Tuesday, Kilicdaroglu spoke to hundreds in the town of Camlidere, on the outskirts of the capital.

He challenged Erdogan to resign if it were proven that the government influenced the judiciary.

“If I prove you and your government gave instructions to the courts, will you resign from your role as an honest and honourable person?” he said.

“I give my word as well. I will leave politics if I do not prove (these claims). Because I am an honest and honourable person.”

Erdogan fired back at the CHP leader, who has become the president's most notable political opponent since the jailing last year of Selahattin Demirtas of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party ( HDP).

Kilicdaroglu is “a lying machine, everyone knows that in this country”, Erdogan said in an Ankara speech. “He now needs to back up his allegations. Go ahead and prove it.” — AFP