CHP leader suggests Turks abroad run for Parliament

MAIN opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu called for a new election law that would enable Turkish citizens who live abroad to be elected as deputies for Parliament.

Speaking in Strasbourg on Wednesday where he went to attend the World Democracy Forum, Kılıçdaroğlu said that regardless of party, Turkish citizens abroad should be in Parliament to voice their problems as residents in foreign countries.

“If there are 3 million Turkish workers abroad, there should be, for instance, 30 deputies that are elected among them to represent them,” he said, adding that citizens should be aware of their responsibilities.

“We have to strengthen democracy and the economy in Turkey. We have to provide human rights and gender equality in the country. In terms of these, the responsibility is on all of us. Regardless of our gender, we all have responsibility over the land that we were born in and for our relatives that live there,” he said, adding that the education and language needs of Turkish citizens who live abroad should get special treatment.

“I ask you to send your children to school. They should be very good in the language of the place where they live. They shouldn’t lose their identity, but should learn the language of that place since in the future, they will claim their rights,” he added.

Kılıçdaroğlu also asked Turkish citizens in Europe to participate and be supportive in the 2019 elections.

Kılıçdaroğlu also had a meeting with European Council Secretary-General Thorbjørn Jagland on political developments in Turkey and Turkish-European Council relations. Kılıçdaroğlu called the meeting productive at a joint press conference afterward,