Erkan Baş Criticizes Government on NATO Summit, Calls Them 'American Stooges'

Erkan Baş, leader of the Workers' Party of Turkey (TİP), sharply criticized the ruling party during a forum in İzmir, accusing them of prioritizing the interests of a select few over the well-being of the nation. He asserted that the country's economic struggles are not due to a lack of knowledge but a deliberate class-based choice to enrich a small elite.

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We are poor because this party, in power for 25 years, has no concern other than making a handful of rich people richer.

"We are poor because this party, in power for 25 years, has no concern other than making a handful of rich people richer," Baş declared. He further lambasted the private healthcare sector, referencing a "newborn gang" investigation where he alleged that infants were harmed for profit. "I apologize to all of you individually for not demolishing all private hospitals in this country and ending the system where healthcare is bought and sold when some scoundrels, for a few coins, killed tiny babies under the name of a 'newborn gang'," he stated, emphasizing the need to confront this system.

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I apologize to all of you individually for not demolishing all private hospitals in this country and ending the system where healthcare is bought and sold when some scoundrels, for a few coins, killed tiny babies under the name of a 'newborn gang'.

Addressing the nation's political trajectory, Baş rejected the notion that Turkey is merely at a crossroads. Instead, he warned that the country has entered a "dark period." He argued against the idea of merely protecting existing democratic and secular values, asserting that these have been eroded and must be "reclaimed from scratch." He cautioned that viewing these values as merely needing protection would lead to a defensive stance, ultimately leaving them vulnerable to what he described as a "counter-revolutionary government" supported by capitalists, religious orders, and imperialists.

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This country is not at a crossroads. We have entered the tunnel, we are going to the bottom of the darkness.