Mumcu: Identity arguments are 'insanity' for the nation
Güncelleme Tarihi:
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Aralık 14, 2005 10:57
The general leader of the opposition Motherland (Anavatan) Party, Erkan Mumcu, has criticized Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan for his recent comments about primary versus secondary identity. "These arguments are nothing but 'a shirt of insanity' that someone is trying to make the country wear," warned Mumcu. The opposition leader also reserved sharp words for PM Erdogan's recent comment about "religion being a cementing bond between the different ethnicities in Turkey": "Not in a political or legal sense, but in a cultural and social sense, religion is a 'cement.' But only if you remove your (addressing Erdogan) hand from it," said Mumcu.
Mumcu, addressing his parliamentary group, also had angry words for the AKP's seeming continuation of the identity arguments in Turkey: "Of course, in a democracy, everyone is free to express themselves. But this should not be confused with saying whatever comes to mind......The gentlemen who have started up and continued these arguments do not even have the ability to distinguish between concepts of cultural identity and concepts of political identity."