CHP leader Baykal: I am sending a delegation to Thessaloniki
Güncelleme Tarihi:
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Mayıs 11, 2006 11:10
Main opposition leader Deniz Baykal, of the Republican People's (CHP) Party, has announced that he will be sending a cadre of MPs from the CHP to the home in Thessaloniki where Ataturk was born. The announcement from Baykal comes in the wake of this week's controversy after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, on a visit to Ataturk's birth home in northern Greece, ripped a page of writing out of the guest book on display there for visitors to sign. Prime Minister Erdogan defended his actions, saying that the writing had been marked by heavy insults and profanity, and that it had no place in a guest book at Ataturk's home in Thessaloniki.
Baykal, noting that there "great pressure" on the CHP to act on this subject, said: "It is clear from every aspect of his character that Fethi Dorduncu (the author of the letter ripped from the guest book by Erdogan) is an enlightened man. There are things which the Prime Minister must learn from this process. We request that the guest book, which was taken away from its place in Ataturk's home, be put back immediately. Next week, a delegation including our deputy general secretary and one of our Thrace MPs will be visiting Thessaloniki."
Worried about the guest book, but no reaction to Pontus Genocide charges
At a CHP rally in the Turkish city of Ordu, Baykal said "The Prime Minister is worried about a page written in a guest book at Ataturk's home in Thessaloniki. But he says nothing about the new "Pontus Genocide" statue unveiled in the city." The Pontus Genocide refers to an extermination of Greeks living along the eastern Black Sea coast of Turkey which Greek officials claim took place between 1916-1923. Turkey denies that any such event ever occured.
Worried about the guest book, but no reaction to Pontus Genocide charges
At a CHP rally in the Turkish city of Ordu, Baykal said "The Prime Minister is worried about a page written in a guest book at Ataturk's home in Thessaloniki. But he says nothing about the new "Pontus Genocide" statue unveiled in the city." The Pontus Genocide refers to an extermination of Greeks living along the eastern Black Sea coast of Turkey which Greek officials claim took place between 1916-1923. Turkey denies that any such event ever occured.