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Erdogan slams ‘inappropriate’ speech by Bar Association chairman

May 12, 2014 at 11:01 am

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan criticized a lengthy speech delivered by the head of the Bar Association Metin Feyzioğlu, a former CHP official, for being “inappropriate” and “irrelevant.”

Speaking at the anniversary of the Council of State (the Supreme Court charged with administrative cases between the state and its citizens), with the attendance of Turkey’s President and Prime Minister, Mr Feyzioğlu slammed the government for mishandling the 2011 Van earthquake disaster, a reference Erdogan deemed erroneous and off-topic, merely aimed at embarrassing senior government officials who attended the ceremony.

In a meeting by AK Party in the western Turkish city Afyonkarahisar, Erdogan stressed that “the disrespectful” speech did not target a specific political figure, but it reflected a mentality reminiscent of a bygone phase in Turkish history when the Judiciary allied with political opposition and the army to stage a coup against elected governments.

“How dare they? They have no right to point fingers at elected officials. This is an attitude of a bygone era,” Erdogan said.

Erdogan accused the Bar Association chairman of quoting misleading media reports, trying to capitalise on people’s death for political ends.