CHP Istanbul head apologizes for using Alan Kurdi in irrelevant political campaign

CHP Istanbul Chair Canan Kaftancıoğlu apologized for using a photo of Alan Kurdi, a Syrian migrant baby whose body washed up on shore in western Turkey in 2015 after he drowned during a trip across the Aegean Sea to Europe with his family, to draw attention to the $128 billion that went missing from state funds under the AKP.

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Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) Istanbul chair Canan Kaftancıoğlu apologized on April 20 for using an image of Syrian migrant baby Alan Kurdi for an awareness campaign about the $128 billion that went missing from the state funds under the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).

Kaftancıoğlu shared the photo of Kurdi's body washed up on shore in western Turkey after he drowned during a trip across the Aegean to Europe with his family in 2015 in a series of tweets with the captions "Erdoğan is responsible" and "Where are the $128 billion?"

Other images Kaftancıoğlu shared showed AKP deputies in parliament, lines of cocaine in reference to an AKP staff member who got ousted for drug use, and a luxury car to symbolize the AKP's extravagant spending patterns. 

The Istanbul chair apologized for sharing the image after backlash on social media, saying that she had aimed to make a point that tragic deaths like Alan Kurdi's wouldn't occur if the $128 billion missing from the Treasury been used effectively. 

"I apologize for using the image of baby Aylan that still weighs heavy on our consciousness, that we can't forget," Kaftancıoğlu said. 

Kaftancıoğlu's sharing of Alan Kurdi's photo prompted outrage among ranks of the AKP as an extension of their protest against the CHP's campaign about the missing state funds.

"Being human requires a bare minimum conscience. A person without a conscience has nothing to contribute to politics and society," Altun said. "What else could you expect from those who receive orders from the killers of Baby Alan?"

Presidential spokesperson İbrahim Kalın said that "politics that use Baby Alan's death as a tool have nothing to contribute" to Turkey, and Justice Minister Abdülhamit Gül said that "Baby Alan's spirit will defeat this evil."

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Topics Canan Kaftancıoğlu Alan Kurdi Turkey Turkish 128 billion dollars