Security forces file complaint against main opposition leader over 'meth' remarks

Duvar English

The main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu on Oct. 31 shared a video in which he and CHP Poverty Solidarity Office head Hacer Foggo talked about the “methamphetamine crisis” especially among children in Turkey.

In the video Kılıçdaroğlu says that there is a "methamphetamine" crisis in Turkey, and that it is happening because of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu. 

Kılıçdaroğlu claimed that drug lords from all over the world are coming to Turkey because the AKP government want to reduce the current account deficit.

“The palace (President Erdoğan and his aides) knows very well that they themselves invited these drugs to this country. 'Breaking Bad Süleyman’ (Soylu) has allowed the country's children to be poisoned. Our young children fall into the trap of drugs,” Kılıçdaroğlu said, blaming Erdoğan's rule for the crisis.

Kılıçdaroğlu’s explanation is as following:

“Everything started when this government worsened the economy. They emptied the treasury, crashed the economy, and when all resources were exhausted, they got into a very dirty game to stay in power. What was this game, my dear people? They allowed all kinds of dirty money to enter the country. They said, 'Bring money, I will not ask for its source' and they used this dirty money, namely billions of dollars, that is, drug money to finance Turkey's current account deficit.

So many drug lords from all over the world came to Istanbul with their money and settled down. Then they started to clash with each other in cafes and shopping malls. They turned Istanbul into a conflict zone of world criminal organizations, international mafia, drug lords. That's why our children, especially our helpless children, have been the target of this filth. Today, drugs are sold on the streets of Turkey according to every income group. But I want to focus on meth.

Methamphetamine consumption is spreading very fast. It is brought to Turkey as a liquid. It is converted into crystal form in laboratories in Istanbul.”

After Kılıçdaroğlu, Hacer Foggo also talked about the methamphetamine danger especially in poor neighborhoods.

Foggo said “In almost all streets, neighborhoods, especially poor neighborhoods, this meth is even in the language of children and adolescents. They even call it ‘Uncle Metin’. It's incredibly common. I talked to a lot of mothers and fathers who locked their children in their homes and even tied them in chains, thinking 'As long as they are at home, they do not fall and die on the street'.”

Foggo further said “I spoke to a parent whose child died from drugs. The child has constant hallucinations. They take him to the hospital, they take medicine, but he cannot receive any treatment because he is constantly on the street. Finally he threw himself under a train and died, thinking that he was hallucinating. There are far more dramatic stories.”

After Kılıçdaroğlu’s video, Turkey's General Directorate of Security (EGM) and Gendarmerie General Command on late Oct. 31 announced that they filed a criminal complaint against CHP leader Kılıçdaroğlu over his “accusations.”

Using the exact words, both institutions said on Twitter that “CHP Chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu accuses our department of ‘trading drugs to reduce the current account deficit.’ We are filing a criminal complaint against this slanderer.”

Over their tweets, some raised the question that why those deparments felt the need to made those statements when Kılıçdaroğlu did not mention security forces at all.

Moreover, Interior Minister Soylu on late Oct. 31 shared a video in which he replied to the CHP leader. Soylu said "Of course, it does not befit a citizen of the Republic of Turkey to slander the State of the Republic of Turkey, its police, its gendarmerie, its military in order to cover up the corruption of their municipalities."

“First, we are filing a criminal complaint against him. Second, we're filing a lawsuit for compensation. Both ourselves and our departments. Third, if you do not prove a (word) of this slander, we say that you are insolent. It seems Kılıçdaroğlu thinks that he can change the public agenda by saying these slanders," Soylu added.

Soylu also said to the press on Nov. 1 that “Turkey catches three-quarters of the drug in Ağrı, Van and Hakkari, where it enters through its borders. In 2016, the number of people arrested for drug dealing in Turkey was 35-36,000, this number is 110,000 today. We carried out the biggest operations in the history of the Republic.”

President Erdoğan also replied to Kılıçdaroğlu’s claims. 

“We know what helal is, what haram is. How can you say to such an organization which fights with drugs, that 'Turkey is reducing its current account deficit by selling drugs'? What a disgrace,” Erdoğan on Nov. 1 said in the capital Ankara.