FORMER governor of Abia State and global entrepreneur, Dr. Orji Kalu, has condemned the weekend coup in Turkey. He declared that violent change of government had become anachronistic and very unpopular worldwide.
Kalu, who spoke from London, said the world had outgrown unconstitutional removal of national leaders from office because of the civilized channels that people could explore. “Any change in the leadership of a country must follow prescribed laws of the land. Removing leaders through the deployment of force is antithetical to democratic norms and even deleterious to the overall health of the country affected.”
In a statement issued by his media adviser, Ebere Wabara, Kalu called on the international community to see this as an affront to them hence the collective and imperative necessity to resist it. “World leaders should rise up to this challenge and rally round the duly-elected government in Turkey.
“This is a major setback to democracy, especially coming from the very heart of Europe. The absurdity of this misadventure is that even in developing countries, military rule had become an anathema by all standards. This uprising must be quelled in the interest of humanity and all that is good.
“The rash of anti-coup protests in parts of Turkey, particularly the capital, Istanbul, shows that they are in support of the democratically-elected government. The military dictators should respect the will of the people and the country’s sovereignty.” Kalu said.
On Friday, Turkish military hijacked power in the NATO country resulting in the death of more than 161 people. About 800 suspects have so far been arrested in connection with the coup.