ANKARA (Nor Marmara) – The political struggle between Turkey’s opposition Republican People’s Party (the party founded by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu and President of the Republic of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has become tempestuous. Both are unsparing in their public criticisms of one other, speaking sarcastically and making pronouncements that become the subject of lengthy debates and potentially litigation. Lately there has been an uproar in Turkey after Kılıçdaroğlu used the phrase “so-called [sözde] president” in reference to Erdogan, putting the legitimacy of the country’s leader in question; that is, whether he is really the representative of the authority of the citizenry.
Batuhan Yasar, correspondent of the Haber-7 TV channel, analyzed the accusations hurled at the president by making a vulgar comparison with the phrase “so-called (sözde) genocide,” used in Turkey in reference to the Armenian Genocide.
Yasar pointed out that the phrase “so-called genocide” is used by the Republic of Turkey and the use of the expression “so-called” originally spread in order to cause Armenian claims to fail – while also underscoring that genocide did not take place.
“Kılıçdaroğlu has done the same. He insisted that Erdoğan’s presidency is illegal. What an ugly expression. But it is not accidental or by mistake that he used that expression. He did it purposefully, with calculation and premeditation,” Yasar stated.