Erdogan invited to testify at Parliament coup panel

A parliamentary panel established to look into military coups and memorandums has invited Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to testify about the 1997 post-modern military coup, the 2007 “e-memorandum” and the much-speculated Dolmabahce meeting of 2007.

Idris Sahin, the spokesperson of Parliament’s Coups and Military Memorandums Inquiry Commission, said yesterday that some members of the panel had requested to hear the prime minister even though the body ceased hearing witnesses on Nov. 10. “The commission decided to ask Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s opinion about the coups,” he said.

Commission chair Nimet Bas from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) will contact Erdogan and ask him to decide whether his testimony will be verbal or written. Erdogan also has the right to refuse to testify before the commission.

The commission’s invitation to Erdogan came after commission members from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) insisted that the premier should be heard.
A commission member from the CHP, Mehmet Seker, told the Hürriyet Daily News yesterday that they preferred a face-to-face meeting with Erdogan, vowing that they would ask him about the so-called Dolmabahce meeting.

Erdogan held a closed meeting with the then-chief of the General Staff, Gen. Yasar Buyukan?t, at the historical Dolmabahce Palace – where Erdogan has an office – on May 4, 2007, only seven days after the “e-memorandum.”

The “e-memorandum,” posted on the military’s website around midnight on April 27, 2007, was the first episode in a chain of events that plunged Turkey into political turmoil and forced early elections. In the statement, the army threatened to step in to protect Turkey’s secular system, hours later Parliament held an inconclusive, first-round vote to elect a new president; at the time, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul was the sole candidate.

Erdogan previously said the “Dolmabahçe meeting” would be kept secret by both sides “until the apocalypse.” Seker, for his part, said light should be shed on the Dolmabahce meeting.
“There should be no secret that is kept until the apocalypse. What did they discuss at that meeting? The prime minister should disclose it,” Seker said.


/hurriyetdailynews.com/