Canan Kaftancıoğlu, the parliamentary main opposition Republican People's Party's (CHP) recently elected provincial chair of İstanbul, faces a probe on charges of "terror propaganda" and "insulting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan". Her congress victory has also stirred a debate among the CHP members and other political actors for her political career and trajectory.
As Kaftancıoğlu won the congress with a narrow margin on January 14, some figures from the CHP accuse her of having such a political perspective that contradicts the principles of CHP party. This group argues that Kaftancıoğlu is not suitable for the chair of party's İstanbul branch because of her political discourse regarding other political parties.
Some blame the CHP’s new İstanbul chair Kaftancıoğlu for being closer to the political line of the country's pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP).
In answer to a question about her stance towards the HDP party, Kaftancıoğlu said, "If I were close to the HDP line, I would do politics within the HDP at the moment," adding that she supported the joint stance of the CHP party and the BDP party (former pro-Kurdish party that joined the HDP in 2014) against a "memorandum of war" at the parliament.
As some politicians from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and other parties criticize Kaftancıoğlu for supporting the approach of Armenian diaspora on the Armenian question during the Ottoman era with her previous tweets, Kaftancıoğlu said, "I shared a tweet in those years when a demonstration was conducted with regards to the Armenian Genocide."
Some other members of the CHP party also criticize Kaftancıoğlu for a tweet of her, through which she said that she does not prefer the slogan, "We are the soldiers of Mustafa Kemal" since it sounds "militaristic", with reference to a famous political slogan among pro-Mustafa Kemal Atatürk citizens in the country.
Kaftancıoğlu recently shared another tweet, saying that she prefers the slogan, "We are the comrades of Mustafa Kemal," against the criticism she confronted.
KAFTANCIOĞLU FACES PROBE FOR "INSULTING ERDOĞAN"
Canan Kaftancıoğlu faces an investigative probe on charges of "terror propaganda" and "insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan" via her social media posts.
Accusing Canan Kaftancıoğlu of allegedly "carrying out propaganda" of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) with her social media posts in the past, the investigation was launched just after Kaftancıoğlu was elected as the İstanbul head of CHP party on Jan. 14 at a provincial congress amid a harsh race against her rival in İstanbul.
"I am a doctor and a mother. I have always denounced terror and terrorist organizations as someone who devoted her entire life to the struggle for human rights. My whole purpose and works are to enrich the Republic of Turkey, including my responsibility to criticize the palace [of President Erdoğan]," Kaftancıoğlu responded the probe via her Twitter account.
