CHP leader says Erdoğan is responsible for the deaths of 13 security personnel in Iraq

Photo: AA

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Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) Chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has said that the government is responsible for the killing of 13 military, police and intelligence officers in Iraq's north last week.

The army carried out a military operation last week in the Gare area in Iraq's Kurdistan region to rescue the hostages but all of them as well as three soldiers who participated in the operation lost their lives.

The officers in question were reportedly taken hostage in 2015 and 2016. Opposition parties have criticized the government that it had not taken action to bring back the hostages for years.

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"What has been done in five, six years? All of them have lost their lives now," he told his party's parliamentary group today (February 16). "We assigned our friends, they held press conferences. We said the government should handle this. We did everything that we could."

"Normally, one should take responsibility and resign. You go to rescue hostages and they die ... They could have been brought back to Turkey," he remarked.

Kılıçdaroğlu also recalled a statement by President and Justice and Development Party (AKP Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan last week that he would announce "good news" on February 10, saying that his plan was to announce the rescue of the hostages.

"The one responsible for our 13 martyrs is Recep Tayyip Erdoğan," he remarked.

Turkey launched a military operation into Iraq on that day but Erdoğan didn't make any announcements.

On February 14, Minister of Defense Hulusi Akar confirmed that the 13 hostages were killed during an operation to rescue them. (DŞ/VK)