Erdoğan calls main opposition leader 'bandit,' says he cannot freely visit gov't institutions

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President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan once again targeted main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu over his attempted visit to the Education Ministry, referring to him with several insults.

“Kılıçdaroğlu has made it a habit to threaten public officials, to raid public institutions, to do banditry....He gets locked out for going to public institutions in a patronizing way. We have experienced the latest example of this at the Education Ministry. With such banditry-like raids, the objective of this person, who sits at the CHP's leadership, is to create chaos and disorder there, not to receive information from public institutions,” Erdoğan said during an address to a business group in Istanbul on Dec. 31.

“He [Kılıçdaroğlu] is not honest, his caliber is broken, and his disposition is damaged,” Erdoğan further said, as he continued with his insults.

“Mr. Kemal, you will not be able to go to the state's institutions randomly as of now, it is over. Honesty is needed to be able to go to the state's institutions; you do not have such honesty. In the past, there were times when I sent you my Defense Ministers, my Foreign Minister; I told them to brief you. But you are not a man,” Erdoğan said.

Kılıçdaroğlu was turned away at the gates of the Education Ministry on Dec. 30, as he wanted to discuss reports of nepotism in public school teacher placements. Kılıçdaroğlu's move came after Education Minister Mahmut Özer refused to give him an appointment. 

Kılıçdaroğlu said they have been receiving complaints that many teacher candidates are eliminated in oral exams, despite scoring very well in the written State Personnel Examination (KPSS) exams.