Yavuz Ağıralioğlu, a renowned nationalist politician who serves as a lawmaker for the Good Party (IP) representing Istanbul lashed out at the opposition bloc his party is aligned with, over talks with the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), who are known for its close affiliation with the terrorist group PKK.
Ağıralioğlu held a news conference at Parliament on Wednesday where he was expected to resign from his party but shied away from stepping down. Yet, his was the harshest rhetoric against the IP ally Republican People’s Party (CHP), whose leader and presidential candidate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu sought to garner support from the HDP.
“Not everything can be justified to win an election,” Ağıralioğlu said in reference to the HDP talks. The HDP on Wednesday announced that they would not field a candidate for the May 14 elections, a decision that cemented their support for the Nation’s Alliance led by Kılıçdaroğlu and IP. “We will not be under the shadow of terrorism,” Ağıralioğlu said. “We will be glad if we can have the vote of citizens who previously voted for the HDP but all we see are leaders of the HDP which call the state a 'murderer,'" he said. “They made this honorable seat (of the Presidency) a bargaining chip in the hands of separatists,” Ağıralioğlu said, using a term for the PKK.
He said IP was “humiliated” and the CHP violated an agreement that is used as a road map for the postelection process by the six-party opposition bloc.
He added that IP was “ambushed” by the opposition bloc and slammed the “trolls” of other opposition parties they were aligned with for “insults” toward IP after its leader Meral Akşener initially announced that she would leave the bloc. Akşener returned to the bloc she disagreed with over the nomination of Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, after the bloc pledged to appoint two other candidates IP endorsed as vice presidents of Kılıçdaroğlu in case of an election victory.
