Tensions between Turkey’s main opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan escalated on June 20 with Kilicdaroglu accusing the president of influencing the judiciary.

“Will you resign if I prove your government gives instructions to the courts. I’ll quit politics if I don’t prove my claims,” Kilicdaroglu challenged the president.

The head of the main Republican People’s Party (CHP) on June 15 started out a 425-kilometre (265-mile) “march for justice” from Ankara to Istanbul after a CHP lawmaker was jailed for 25 years on espionage charges.

On June 17, Erdogan described Kilicdaroglu’s protest march as an attempt at influencing judicial proceedings and called on the opposition leader to halt the walk, expected to take around four weeks to complete. “Kilicdaroglu is violating article 138 of the constitution,” Erdogan said.

He warned Kilicdaroglu that his protest could land him trouble. “Don’t be surprised, if you are, too, invited by the judiciary,” Erdogan said in a speech over the weekend, adding that the government had done him a favour by letting him commence the march.

The article which the president referred to states that “no organ, authority, office or individual may give orders or instructions to courts or judges relating to the exercise of judicial power, send them circulars, or make recommendations or suggestions.”

"I don’t violate the constitution. I have rights. And if someone says my rights are a favour, I say you’re a dictator," Kilicdaroglu said on June 20 at his party’s parliamentary group meeting, held in the town of Camlidere, some 100km outside the capital, Hurriyet Daily News reported.

He also criticised the ongoing state of emergency in Turkey and the massive crackdown and purges the government unleashed in the wake of the failed coup attempt last year. “105,000 public employees have been purged. Are they the ones who staged the coup?” Kilicdaroglu protested.

Erdogan fired back at the opposition leader by calling him a “lying machine”.

“It is not the first time you [Kilicdaroglu] are making such claims. Everybody in this country knows you are a lying machine. Everybody knows that you don’t keep your promises. You must now prove your allegations,” Erdogan said, in response to Kilicdaroglu’s claim that the government influences the courts.

“We are seeking justice for our 250 citizens who lost their lives during the coup. We are not seeking justice with a banner,” Erdogan added. During each leg of his march, Kilicdaroglu holds a banner in his hand reading “Justice”.

The state of emergency which was declared immediately after the botched putsch allows the government to rule by decree. Erdogan has given no indication as to when it might be dropped.

Nearly 50,000 people have been arrested and more than 800 companies with assets of around $10bn have been seized over alleged links to the coup plotters.