Monitoring Desk
ANKARA: The Turkish premier on Tuesday asked the Council of Europe to “mind its own business” in response to a suggestion to postpone Turkey’s early election.
Speaking at a news conference in Spain’s capital Madrid, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said: ”The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) should mind its own business. Turkey will hold the elections, not them.”
The monitoring committee of PACE called on Turkey to postpone the June 24 early elections, saying it does not comply with the EU criteria.
The parliament on Friday passed a bill calling for early elections, cementing Turke-y’s move to a presidential system.
In an April 2017 referendum, Turkish voters approved the switching from a parliamentary system to a presidential one.
The committee added: “It is impossible to hold genuinely democratic elections under the state of emergency and on-going security operations in south-east Turkey,” referring to the country’s ongoing operation in Afrin, northwestern Syria, which aims to clear its border from terrorists. Turkey declared a state of emergency for the first time on July 20, 2016, following the defeated coup by Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO).
FETO and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup of July 15, 2016, which left 250 people martyred and nearly 2,200 injured.
Yildirim also slammed PACE for inviting former PYD/PKK terrorist co-leader Salih Muslim to an event on Monday.
“Bringing a terrorist there and let him give a speech neither contributes to peace, nor the values of Europe.”
Muslim was arrested on Feb. 25 in Prague following Turkey’s request to the Czech Republic. Two days later, he was released by a Czech court on the condition that he would not leave the European Union and appear at future hearings in the extradition case. The PYD/PKK is the Syrian branch of the terrorist group PKK, which is responsible for over 40,000 deaths, in a violent campaign against Turkey for more than 30 years.
Muslim, an influential figure of the PYD/PKK terrorist group, is being sought by a Turkish court on suspicion of his involvement in the planning of a terrorist attack carried out in Ankara in 2016. (AA)
