Turkey's PM Erdogan says not to bow to "dirty games"

Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, "we did not bow to this dirty games, dirty relations, these illegal attempt, and we will not," in a first response from the government over new alleged coup plot.

The comment also comes after the Constitutional Court on Thursday overturned a law allowing the military to be put on trial in civilian courts, a move fiercely opposed by the armed forces.

Turkish military on Thursday accepted the existence of a plan allegedly aimed at discrediting the government, but denied it was a coup plot that included arrests of dozens of Journalists whose names emerged on media.

Referring to the coup plan, titled the Balyoz (Sledgehammer) implicitly, Turkish PM Erdogan said, "we did not bow to this dirty games, dirty relations, these illegal attempt, and we will not."

Expressing his government's will to defend the law against the ones who threaten the will of the nation, Erdogan said, "no one should not try to spread fear among the people. We are the government of all 72 million, not just those who voted for us."

According to the alleged plan, aimed to create a chaos in Turkey through a series of violent attacks that would eventually lead to a military coup.

Speaking at an expanded meeting of his party's provincial chairmans, Erdogan said the following:

"We did not enter Ankara's dark tunnels, we do not today, we will not tomorrow. They want to pull us there. They want to associate us to their scenarios, which have no benefits to the nation. They want us to join their political tension plan. We will not be there and will not be. We did not bow down to all these scenarios, these dirty games, dirty relations, these illegal attempts, and we will not."

Erdogan also dismissed the accusations appearing in some media suggesting that AK Party administration was driving the country towards a civil dictatorship.

He said in the 7 years of AK Party rule, his administration defended democracy and rule of law, adding that they were more than willing to hand over the government to who ever won the nation's trust in the next elections.

"We will stand up tall for our country, its future, for democracy and freedom against all kinds of scenarios and initiatives, we will continue to do so. I am addressing to all who do not understand or do not want to understand once again: Republic of Turkey is a democratic, secular, social law state. In a democracy, power comes through the election, and goes with election. There is no power over the will of the nation, cannot be. The ones who think they are above the parliament and the nation are in apparent negligence and error."

Erdogan told the meeting, that his administration was not trying to strengthen its hold over the country noting that their only goal was to strengthen the rule of the national will.

Erdogan said their administration adopted a bill shortening the period of time between general elections to four years from five, and held a referendum for election of the president by popular vote every five years rather than the old system of election by the parliament.

Erdogan said these were the greatest proofs of their intention to end the civil fascism and one party rule that existed before them.

/World Bulletin/