At campaign rallies, opposition criticizes PM Erdogan

At campaign rallies in Sinop and Adiyaman over the weekend, ahead of local elections at the end of this month, main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal criticized Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party). Saying the AK Party is trying to push through a "transformation," he continued, "This is in no way a transformation which will bring Turkey to democratic, modern values of today's world. On the contrary, this transformation aims at muzzling the media, putting the judiciary under political pressure, blocking efforts to bring corruption to justice, and putting all the country's resources under the hegemony of a single person." In related news, opposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahceli criticized Erdogan for using state resources for political purposes, in his traveling to rallies.