Vice President Fuat Oktay and the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) Deputy Chairperson Erkan Kandemir criticized main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) Chairperson Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu’s recent remarks calling on bureaucrats to oppose the government.
"I’m filing a criminal complaint against everyone who tries to create a sense of tutelage and a parallel structure, threatening all segments of our public servants and casting doubt on them," Oktay said on his Twitter account Monday.
The vice president continued by saying that bureaucrats and public servants will respond to Kılıçdaroğlu’s yearning for tutelage by enhancing their performance.
Meanwhile, Kandemir told reporters in a news conference that the CHP has always used the rhetoric of tutelage and it is their sense of politics.
"Everything he has recently said is a reflection of CHP’s return to its natural self, this is a CHP tradition," Kandemir said.
Kılıçdaroğlu on Saturday in a video message shared on social media called on public officials not to follow the orders of the ruling government, saying: "I say clearly, you cannot serve the mafia order in the name of duty. You cannot consider illegal works as orders. You are honorable officers of this state, not the Erdoğan family. This is the last call of your brother Kılıçdaroğlu for you to come to mind. As of Monday, Oct. 18, the responsibility of all your support to the illegal requests of this order will begin to belong to you. You can't get away with this dirty work by saying 'I have received orders.' Whatever is being done to you illegally, stop by Monday."
"This statement is a clear admission that the CHP mentality is a tutelage mentality. Inviting the bureaucracy to oppose the elected government is nothing but a call for tutelage," Erdoğan said in response.
"Turkey is a state of law. I remind Mr. Kemal of this. It is not the field where Mr. Kemal plays games. Gone are the days when you were enthusiastic. Everyone, from the president to the lowest-ranking civil servant, has to do their duty in accordance with the law," Erdoğan added.
He underlined that Turkey buried the tutelage and coup mentality a long time ago.
The Nation Alliance main opposition bloc led by CHP and the Good Party (IP) has recently intensified calls for an early election and a return to the parliamentary system from the existing presidential government system, making political moves in this regard.
Additionally, the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office has launched an investigation on its own motion about recent claims by Kılıçdaroğlu that political murders may be committed in Turkey, a claim strongly rejected and condemned by officials, including Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu.
The investigation followed recent allegations by Kılıçdaroğlu, who indirectly implied that the government may be planning political assassinations.
"I have concerns about murders. Erdoğan will do everything to stay in power," Kılıçdaroğlu told journalists at a meeting in southern Mersin province last week.
It has been more than four years since Turkey switched from a parliamentary system to the current presidential system after the majority of Turkish voters opted to create the new system.
Turkish voters narrowly endorsed an executive presidency in the April 16, 2017 referendum with 51.4% of the votes in favor.
The official transition to the new system took place when Erdoğan took the presidential oath of office in Parliament after the June 24, 2018, general elections, in which he won 52.6% of the votes.
The next presidential and general elections are scheduled for 2023.