Turkish main opposition chair vows to sell Erdoğan’s 15 planes if his party assumes power

Turkish main opposition CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has said that President Erdoğan has 16 presidential planes in his fleet and that they will sell 15 of them if his party assumes power in the upcoming elections.

Wednesday October 12 2022 06:37 pm

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Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has visited John Hopkins University and answered questions of students.

Kılıçdaroğlu at the beginning of the meeting with the students said: “Those who were imprisoned in our country for their thoughts; they are not only journalists. No one should be prosecuted or imprisoned for their thoughts. Legislature, executive, judiciary... Media as the fourth great power. The four great powers must control each other and maintain the balance. There is a union of powers in Turkey right now, there is no separation of powers. This causes many problems.”

Kılıçdaroğlu said that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has 16 planes in the presidential fleet. “We will fight with extravagance. We will sell 15 of the planes (when we assume power) and put the income in the Treasury," he said.

Speaking of taxes, Kılıçdaroğlu said: “The most basic human right is to question where the paid taxes are spent. Since this question is not asked by the broad masses of the people in Turkey, and the answer is not sought, democracy does not develop to the extent we would like. You can't develop democracy if you don't question where taxes are spent.”

On a question about Ukraine and Russia, Kılıçdaroğlu said “We have economic relations with Russia. We will continue our economic relations (when we assume power). But we want to be a part of western civilization. There is no reason to fight with Russia anyway. But we should stand by Ukraine in the Russia-Ukraine war.”

“It is not right for a country with nuclear weapons to invade the territory of a country that does not have nuclear weapons and to start a war. Turkey is dependent on Russia in terms of energy. This dependence will increase even more with the activation of the nuclear power plant (in Akkuyu),” he added.