The Good Party (IP) will file a criminal complaint against a founding lawmaker, who recently claimed that the party’s Istanbul chairperson is a member of the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ), party Chairperson Meral Akşener said Tuesday.
Speaking to her fellow party members at the Parliament, Akşener said they will file a complaint against deputy leader Ümit Özdağ, who recently claimed Istanbul Chairperson Buğra Kavuncu has links to FETÖ, a group that had direct involvement in the July 15, 2016 coup attempt and infiltration of Turkish state institutions.
Özdağ told a live broadcast on CNN Türk late Monday that Kavuncu was the nephew of senior FETÖ figure Enver Altaylı.
"He (Kavuncu) acted as the deputy chairperson of the Kazakhstan-Turkish businesspeople association, which is FETÖ’s largest nongovernmental organization (NGO) abroad," Özdağ said.
He continued by claiming that Kavuncu has refrained from making any comments about FETÖ and has served as a senior figure for their NGO for years.
"I made a warning before I joined the party and repeated my calls. Mrs. Akşener said the state had no information about it, but I say the state does not share every single bit of information," Özdağ said.
Kavuncu joined the live broadcast through the phone and said he would file a criminal complaint against Özdağ’s claims after listening to them with "grief and anger."
Meanwhile, IP chairpersons from around Turkey urged the party to dismiss Özdağ, as they pledged solidarity with Kavuncu.
After Nov. 1, 2015, elections when the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) barely crossed the 10% national election threshold and lost half its deputies compared with the June 7, 2015 elections, Akşener, the party's then-Vice Chairman Özdağ and a number of other deputies called on MHP Chairman Devlet Bahçeli to step down. After they failed to unseat Bahçeli following a heated judicial process, they left the party in 2016 to form their own party.
The IP, founded by MHP dissidents, has faced accusations of backing FETÖ by its critics. Bahçeli has accused Akşener of having close ties to the group. Akşener was also criticized for deleting tweets dating from 2013 responding to FETÖ suspect Emre Uslu, who stated he wants to see Akşener as a presidential candidate in the 2014 elections.