Erdogan ally calls for stripping off top doctor’s citizenship

Devlet Bahceli, the leader of Turkey’s far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) called on authorities to strip off Sebnem Korur Fincanci’s Turkish citizenship over her remarks on Turkey’s allegedly using chemical weapons against PKK militants in Northern Iraq.

“Enmity against Turkish soldiers is a military service to the enemy. Those who act as spokespersons of terrorists, are also pure terrorists,” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s governing ally Bahceli said during an address to his party’s lawmakers on Tuesday, Diken reported. 

Fincanci, the head of Turkish Medical Association (TTB) last week was subjected to an official probe after saying that one of the toxic chemical gases that directly effects the nervous system was apparently used. 

Examining the video footages posted on social media showing the militants who were allegedly suffered from chemical weapon attacks, Fincanci urged independent missions to investigate the incident.

“The heaviest penal actions should be taken against the head of the TTB president and the association’s administrators. TTB should be dissolved. Those who throw mud at Turkish soldiers speaking through the mouth of traitors and oppressors should be deprived of their Turkish citizenship and sentenced to statelessness,” Bahceli said.

President Erdogan on Monday also targeted Fincanci, saying that the judiciary has already taken action against her.

“We will see, through a new legislation if necessary, that this person is removed from her post. I believe that it disturbs every single individual of our nation that such a person, who slanders the reputation of her nation and army using the language of the terrorist group, is currently heading an institution whose title begins with the word Turkish,” Erdogan said.

Following the video coverages posted on social media, Turkey’s pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party (HDP) called on international institutions to investigate the allegations concerning the use of chemical weapons by the Turkish military in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI).

"There are serious reports and allegations that Turkey has been using chemical agents in its military operations since 2021 in the territories of the Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq, which according to international law constitutes a war crime, and some images recently published by some media outlets further support such allegations," the Executive Council of HDP said.

Turkey denied the accusations.