Turkish main opposition chair to US: Your deals with Erdoğan won't bind Turkey

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Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has said that the deals signed between the United States and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan won't be binding for Turkey in the future. 

In a series of tweets, Kılıçdaroğlu on Aug. 3 commented on a program announced by the U.S. on the resettlement of Afghans. 

Under the program, thousands more Afghans will have a chance to resettle as refugees in the United States. Afghans in the program would have to make their own way to a third country, where they will wait 12 to 14 months for their application to be processed.

A senior State Department official said Washington had been in discussion with neighboring countries on potential outflows, adding it was important that Pakistan's borders with Afghanistan remain open, while others might travel to Turkey via Iran.

"First of all, it is quite obvious that Erdoğan has agreed in his last meeting to accept these Afghans as refugees into Turkey," Kılıçdaroğlu said. 

"It is also evident why a young interpreter from the Kavakçı family is allowed to take part in the meeting instead of an official interpreter. Erdoğan behaved so in order to conceal his decision," he said, referring to an interpreter with low credentials who is close to the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). 

The main opposition leader then went on to tell the U.S. that the deals signed between Washington and Erdoğan won't be abiding in the future. 

"I call on to the U.S.: As a member of the alliance that will govern Turkey in the future, we do not accept those deals that you made with Erdoğan. Whatever you have said or relayed to Erdoğan are binding only for him, not for the Republic of Turkey," he said. 

Also on Aug. 3, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement it rejected a reference to Turkey as a migration route for Afghans, and added that Turkey - the world's leading host for refugees with more than 4 million migrants - would not "undertake a new migration crisis on behalf of a third country." 

"As Turkey, we do not accept the irresponsible decision taken by the United States without consulting our country. If the United States wants to take these people to its country, it is possible to transfer them directly to their country by planes," the ministry said.

"No one should expect the Turkish nation to bear the burden of the migration crises experienced as a result of the decisions of third countries in our region," it added.

Hundreds of Afghans have crossed into Turkey in recent weeks amid rising violence in Afghanistan, raising concerns of a fresh influx of migrants.