Deniz Baykal, the chairman of the Republican People’s Party, (CHP) announced late Tuesday that his party would call for the government to be censured over the two issues.
The CHP wants a full explanation of how the media group Sabah-ATV, which had been taken over by the state due to its previous owners failing to pay debts, had been auctioned off to a Turkish company which then revealed it had a major foreign backer.
The opposition also is seeking to censure the government over what it claims was the excessive use of violence by police against workers in Istanbul on May
1 who were trying to stage a May Day rally in the central Taksim Square. Both the government and provincial authorities had banned any May Day event in the square, citing security concerns, but unions declared they would gather in Taksim but were prevented from doing so by police.
At least 38 people were injured in running clashes in the streets around Taksim, and more than 500 taken into detention.
Another to criticize the police actions on May Day was the European Union Commissioner for Enlargement Olli Rehn, who said late Tuesday that it was regrettable that police used disproportionate force on May 1.
Rehn, in Ankara for a meeting of the Turkey-EU Troika foreign ministers, said standards of both the European Union and International Labor Organization should be abided by in terms of unionist rights
