''If the terror related cases are investigated, many people will not be able to go out to face the public. Those who criticise us now cannot go into the public. I am telling you this frankly. Do you know why? When Turkish history is written in the future, the period between June 7 and November 1 will be one of the most critical times,'' Davutoğlu said on Friday, referring to the events in 2015, when he was serving as prime minister.
The June 7, 2015 parliamentary elections were historic for Turkey. Turkey’s ruling AKP, led by then prime minister Davutoğlu, lost the majority in the polls, while the predominantly Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) passed the electoral threshold, winning 80 seats in parliament.
Davutoğlu began coalition negotiations with the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), while Turkey’s peace process that started in 2009 to solve the country’s more-than three decade long Kurdish conflict ended when a group allegedly linked to the terrorist group PKK carried out an attack killing two policemen in July 2015.
On July 20, 2015, a massive explosion in Turkey’s southeastern town of Suruç during a meeting of a mainly Kurdish youth group killed 33 people and wounded dozens more, mostly university students planning to help rebuild neighbouring Kobane in Syria.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Aug. 24, 2015 called for snap elections to take place on Nov. 1, saying that efforts to form a coalition had failed. Davutoğlu headed an interim AKP government until the November polls.
Davutoğlu, who was sidelined by Erdoğan in 2016 and resigned from office, has been reportedly working to establish a new Islamist political party to rival the ruling AKP.
Following his statements on Friday, a name close to Davutoğlu known for controversial social media posts, Taha Ün, took to Twitter on Saturday to share excerpts from the controversial speech by the former prime minister, in which he points the finger to Erdoğan ally MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli and members of the ruling AKP.
Davutoğlu was referring to the “person who evaded a coalition despite the AKP’s insistent and sincere efforts and who saw no problem in leaving Turkey without a government for the sake of a few votes during the height of the war on terror,’’ MHP leader Bahçeli, Ün wrote.
“The other segment that would not be able to face the public’’ if the truth were to come out about the terror attacks of 2015 are those who “stabbed Davutoğlu in the back’’ during the Sept. 12, 2015 party congress, Ün said.
Davutoğlu in the video blasted those who “were scheming for general assembly meetings'' behind his back while he visited cities stuck by terror attacks, referring to members of the ruling AKP.
Many social media users in Turkey had asked Davutoğlu to clarify the events in 2015, sending mentions to the former prime minister.
“Davutoğlu should explain whatever he knows immediately. Otherwise his words will remain an effort for political gain. Moreover, hiding the truth is a crime. Between June 7 and November 1 bombs exploded, people died, we became a society of fear. We have not forgotten,” said Faruk Bildirici, a respected veteran journalist and a member of Turkey’s media watchdog RTÜK, on Twitter.
Mehmet Bekaroğlu, a CHP lawmaker, also called on Davutoğlu to reveal the facts. “Come on, do this good deed for this country,” he said to the former prime minister on Twitter.
“The period between June 7 and November 1 was a period when terrorism was used as a method of election propaganda,” said Ali Şeker, another CHP lawmaker. “Davutoğlu, prime minister at the time, says those who created a climate of terror at that time, during which our terror-related inquiries were rejected and terrorist massacres happened blatantly, are still among us.”
“What happened Mr. Davutoğlu? Who did what? Why can’t they face the public? Let’s not wait for history to write it. You tell us,” said Ümit Özdağ, a lawmaker from the nationalist Good (İYİ) Party.