Kılıçdaroğlu says peace academics will be reinstated to posts if he becomes president

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Opposition Nation Alliance’s presidential candidate and Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has said that members of the “Academics of Peace” will be reinstated to their jobs if he assumes power in the May 14 elections.

Kılıçdaroğlu made the remarks as he addressed the parliament’s General Assembly due to a special occasion on the National Sovereignty and Children’s Day on April 23.

He said that the Turkish parliament is currently “under the shadow of one-man regime” and the its legislative power “has been handed over to one-man regime’s domination.” He said that the current executive presidential system has abolished the merit-based system in the public sector, leading to widespread nepotism.

Kılıçdaroğlu vowed to end many of the injustices in the country, some of which he listed as follows:

He said that if he assumes power, he will bring the current government officials to book for channeling 418 billion dollars to affiliated business groups.

“We are approaching a period in which farmers, workers will get their rights…In which even the President can be freely criticized. In which all decisions will be taken with common consultation. In which Çankaya Palace (where former presidents used to reside) will be once again the whole Turkey’s home. In which Peace Academics will return to their posts.”

“We are approaching a period in which merit-based system will prevail, the Turkish Red Crescent will not sell blood or tents, AFAD (Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency) will not damn own citizens stuck under rubble to death. In which the sultanate of five gangs will end,” Kılıçdaroğlu said, in reference to five construction companies with close ties to the government.

Hundreds of academics have stood trial and were sacked from their state jobs via government decrees (KHK) after they signed a petition called “We will not be a party to this crime” in early 2016.

The signatories of the petition, often called the “Academics of Peace,” urged the government to cease its military operations in the country’s Kurdish majority southeast, where days-long curfews and military conflict were devastating locals.