'Prophet row' in Turkish Parliament turns into apology debate

The “prophet row” between the ruling and opposition parties has turned into an apology debate as the two sides call on each other to beg pardon over the parliamentarians who got into a fistfight.

Osman Durmuş from the opposition Nationalist Movement Party, or MHP, had angered deputies from the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, when he said: “How dare you not allow the wife of a prime minister, who is accepted as a prophet, to [the Gülhane Military Academy of Medicine]? Who do you think you are?”

AKP deputy group chairman Bekir Bozdağ said it was tactless to call the prime minister a “prophet.”

“The only party that needs to beg the pardon of Turkey is the MHP,” Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Thursday at a ceremony organized by the Green Crescent, a nongovernmental organization campaigning against smoking and alcohol consumption.

“My wife was not allowed to visit a patient only because of her headscarf. Rather than criticizing this prohibition, they are joking about the incident,” Erdoğan said.

The MHP went further by attacking him personally, the prime minister added. “It is unbearable to hear such a definition about me,” he said. “They claim ‘Erdoğan would like to be the prophet’… What a silly argument. It is obvious they are sinking to new lows.”

The prime minister was previously called a “prophet” in November by the AKP’s provincial chairman in Aydın, İsmail Hakkı Eser, who said: “We are so loyal to our prime minister and party leader Erdoğan that he is a second prophet for us.”

A quick response came from MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli in a written statement. “Give up straining our patience,” he wrote.

Bahçeli accused the AKP of pretending to be the victim while avoiding solving the headscarf problem. “They always misuse it as a way out,” he said. “It is the highest level of insolent politics for them to claim that we are against the headscarf or Islam.”

“If you blow winds, be ready for stronger storms,” Bahçeli said, addressing Erdoğan. “They [members of the AKP] must stop straining our patience. [Erdoğan] will be the first to fall into fire that he ignited.”

First apology comes from AKP

Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç had harshly criticized Vice Parliament Speaker Güldal Mumcu for her failure to ease the tension. Following a day of exchange of criticism, Arınç stepped back during a live interview on NTV.

“I did not intend to be impolite toward a lady, but used my right to criticize,” he said. “I did not storm in her room and hurt her feelings on purpose. I’d like to express how sorry I am.”