ANKARA (Sputnik) – The leader of Turkey's opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), called on the government to avoid military intervention in Syria.
“As the head of the CHP, I am warning them not to drag Turkey into an adventure, it would have a high cost. And the people on the street, not the politicians, would pay such a bill. [There is a] discussion on intervention in Syria. And it is wrong,” Kemal Kilicdaroglu told the daily Hurriyet newspaper in an interview.
The CHP leader added that the current temporary Turkish government was not authorized to make such important decisions.
In early June, parliamentary elections in Turkey saw the ruling party lose its majority in the country’s legislature as the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party passed the 10-percent threshold and succeeded in gaining seats in the parliament.
Syria has been mired in civil war since 2011, with the government battling several insurgent groups, including the Islamic State and the Nusra Front. According to UN officials, the four-year-long internal conflict has claimed more than 220,000 lives across Syria.
