Turkish government 'responsible' for removal of flag: Opposition

Opposition parties remain persistent that the government is responsible for the recent attack on a Turkish flag in a military base. ‘The government’s will’ is to blame, Kılıçdaroğlu says Opposition parties have insisted that the responsibility for the recent flag incident lies solely on the government’s shoulders since political will has paved the way for such an incident.

“The government’s will” is responsible for the removal of a Turkish flag from a mast inside an Air Force base in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır, because the political responsibility is in their hands, Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu told reporters on June 11. He cited a recent statement by Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç, where he stated the government had ordered the military not to engage with the protester.

“We don’t want the army to hide behind certain justifications. I don’t want to directly blame the military, since our interlocutors are politicians,” Kılıçdaroğlu said, noting Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is accountable for the incident.

The opposition leader referred to a statement by Arınç who on June 9 urged attention to a written statement released by the General Staff earlier that day concerning the incident.

Arınç quoted the statement as saying, “We have been patiently following the incidents,” and added the protester who took down the flag could have been “punished at that moment,” if members of the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) “did not act with patience in commitment to the political will of the...