CHP hangs banner about missing $128b on parliament
Main opposition CHP hung up a banner about the $128 billion missing from state funds on the parliament building on April 15. The CHP's move comes less than 48 hours after the government took down the same banner from dozens of the CHP offices across Turkey in midnight operations.
Duvar English
The main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) hung up a banner asking about the $128 billion missing from state funds on the parliament building on April 15, less than 48 hours after the government took down the same banner from dozens of CHP offices across the country.
The fire department arrived at the parliament building on April 15, when CHP deputy Mahmut Tanal took the banner and hung it up on his office window, which is located right across from the Treasury and Finance Ministry, Anka News Agency reported.
"I'm conducting legislative business at the moment," Tanal said as he hung up the banner. "We are asking on behalf of the people. There is no criminal element here."
The CHP wants to know when $128 billion out of the Turkish Treasury were exchanged for Turkish liras and what they were used for, which the public has a right to know, Tanal added.
The government sent armored vehicles, special operation forces and cranes to CHP offices across the country in midnight operations on April 14, prompting outrage among the main opposition ranks.
CHP Istanbul chair Canan Kaftancıoğlu said that the party would eventually put all the banners back up, although the party faces prosecution for the message on charges of insulting the president.
Members of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) have also come out in protest of the removal of the CHP's banners, with one member telling Gazete Duvar that the judiciary was "attempting to force a connection to the president via prosecutor's orders."