ANKARA (Dispatches) – Turkey's main opposition leader has challenged President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to resign if it is proven that the government influenced the judiciary in the post-coup crackdown in the country.
Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu made the remarks in a Tuesday speech for hundreds in the town of Camlidere on the outskirts of Ankara on the sixth day of his "walk for justice" protest march from Ankara to Istanbul.
"If I prove you and your government gave instructions to the courts, will you resign from your role as an honest and honorable person?" he asked.
"I give my word as well. I will leave politics if I do not prove (these claims). Because I am an honest and honorable person,” he added.
The 68-year-old Kilicdaroglu leads the march in protest at a heavy jail sentence handed down to former journalist turned CHP lawmaker Enis Berberoglu.
A court sentenced Berberoglu to 25 years in jail on Wednesday for leaking classified information to a newspaper.
The 450-kilometer (280 miles) trek is expected to take almost a month and will culminate at Maltepe prison in Istanbul where Berberoglu is being held. The march represents Kilicdaroglu’s biggest challenge to Erdogan since he took over the CHP in 2010.