Jon Trickett, the MP for Hemsworth in West Yorkshire, has said sorry after comparing the bloody coup attempt in Turkey to the Labour party leadership crisis.
Trickett, a Labour MP, deleted a tweet which likened attempts to oust Jeremy Corbyn to the failed military coup which has left 161 people dead in Turkey.
Labour MPs are trying to topple Corbyn, who still appears to have strong support among party members. Trickett suggested on Twitter that both Turkey and Labour’s coup attempts both failed because of lack of support from the “rank and file”.
As the death toll rose on Saturday morning, the Independent reported Trickett tweeted: “Coup organised by a small group against an elected leader fails because of lack of rank and file support.”
He saw a backlash from commenters online, including fellow Labour MP Michael Dugher who said: “As death toll rises to 90, I’m sure Jon Trickett will reflect and realise this comparison is not clever and not funny.”
Trickett replied in agreement, saying it was “wrong” of him to make the comparison.
He then removed his tweet and posted that he apologised sincerely and that he had been “feeling ill” when he sent it.
Trickett, who is also the party’s election coordinator, said: “Okay okay. Tweet deleted and withdrawn. Shouldn’t tweet when feeling I’ll. [sic] I apologise sincerely.”
Dozens are dead after the coup in Turkey which has now been quashed according to officials. Over a thousand people are injured, a crackdown is underway and the country is in chaos.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan landed at Istanbul’s Ataturk airport Saturday morning and declared the attempted coup against his government to be a failure, but also a “gift from God.”
The attempt left more than 160 people dead and more than 1,100 injured, according to Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency.
The uprising was “an act of treason” carried out by a minority within the military, Erdogan said. He vowed to “clean up” the armed forces and “eradicate” those who had operated aerial forces against his government.
As of Saturday morning, nearly 3,000 people have been rounded up, ranging from foot soldiers to senior officers, Reuters reported.
”Turkey has a democratically elected government and president. We are in charge and we will continue exercising our powers until the end,” WorldPost reported Erdogan as saying. “We will not abandon our country to these invaders. It will end well.”