“What did I do? Did I insult anybody? Did I use strong language? I just wanted answers to my five questions. I want these answers on behalf of 83 million people,” Kilicdaroglu said at a press conference with Mustafa Destici, the leader of Great Union Party (BBP), who paid a visit to the main opposition headquarters on Friday, February 19.

In his weekly address to the CHP group on February 16, Kilicdaroglu blamed President Recep Tayyip Erdogan while holding him responsible for the killing of 13 citizens who were held by the PKK in a cave in northern Iraq as well as three troops who were killed during the operation.

Erdogan filed a lawsuit against Kilicdaroglu, demanding 500,000 Turkish Liras in compensation. The AKP officials argued that Kilicdaroglu was trying to whitewash the PKK by blaming President Erdogan for the incident.

Kilicdaroglu sought to defend his words on February 19 by saying, “There is unsuccessfulness. And it was Erdogan who said they could not succeed in rescuing them from the PKK. If there is a failure, then there has to be someone responsible for it.”

Speaking on the reactions that the CHP is not naming the PKK in its statements and is referring to a “separatist terrorist organization” instead, Kilicdaroglu said, “We are using the same terminology that our Defense Ministry and Chief of General Staff are using on their official websites. We are not here to advertise a terror organization.”

In the meantime, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu continued his criticisms against Kilicdaroglu in an address to the district governors on Frida. Recalling that he and Defense Minister Hulusi Akar paid a visit to Kilicdaroglu to provide information about the Gara operation, Soylu accused the CHP leader of turning the anti-terror fight into a political matter.

“Blaming our president [for the killing of citizens] is nothing but whitewashing the PKK, removing the burden from it and turning the issue into a matter of political exploitation,” the minister said.

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