MHP leader Bahçeli’s stances
Devlet Bahçeli, the leader of Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), delivered on May 29, 2015, one of his toughest speeches against President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. It is even a crime to mention those words. It is a speech full of incredible insults.
Erdoğan and Bahçeli attack each other very often. Bahçeli underlines corruption allegations while Erdoğan makes fun of him, saying, “Keep your children away from television screens when Bahçeli speaks.”
Lastly, on the discussion of the Uighur issue or when Erdoğan says he will talk to leaders for the coalition talks, Bahçeli reacted by saying, “The coalition is none of his business; I will not speak to him.”
It is a tense political dispute that goes against fundamental democratic concepts. There are plenty of examples.
Change in the situation
Yet despite all this, the Parliament Spokespersons Board went to the (presidential) palace the other day. It included Justice and Development Party (AKP) and MHP members, while members of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) did not participate.
The CHP and HDP boycotted the palace. Yet despite all the contention, the MHP members were in the palace. Everybody was astonished.
Bahçeli explained the reason to his friends like this:
“When the presidency asked for a list of the MHP parliamentarians to attend foreign country visits, I did not allow it. But the situation is now different.”
This is how Bahçeli identified that different situation:
“There is a bond between the institutional identity of parliament and the institutional identity of the presidency. Our friends did not go to the palace carrying their MHP identity; they did not go there representing the MHP. They went there representing the parliament. That’s why I gave my consent.”
This is not a satisfactory explanation at all. It was the Parliament Spokesperson Board, but those who went to the palace were members of the MHP; they were elected to those positions due to their MHP institutional identity.
In need of all sorts of support, Erdoğan did not miss the opportunity; he sent his best wishes to Bahçeli. One more time Bahçeli provided indirect support for Erdoğan.
Back to the 1990’s
We are back to the 1990’s
-Terrorism-wise: All over Turkey in the 1990’s military, civilians, a lot of people were being killed, bombs were exploding... Now there are currently murders in several places, bridges exploded, natural gas pipelines burned.
2002-2015; the AKP period… 13 wasted years. No difference between the official stance of the 1990’s and the current official stance and no difference about the solution, which is nothing but weapons. Back to square one.
-Politics-wise: The only thing missing is to strip off the immunity of the HDP and get them under detention; just like it happened in the 1990’s to the Kurdish deputies in parliament. Now, the stripping of immunity from HDP deputies is on the agenda. There is irrational talk about closing the HDP.
Back to the 1990’s…
Still there is a huge political difference. There are Turkish-Kurdish votes that number more than 6 million and 80 parliamentarians behind the HDP.
This is an opportunity for dialogue.
Yet what we have seen for the past three days is political blindness.
The government briefs the two opposition parties, while it excludes the HDP. During the solution process the AKP did not give information to the CHP and the MHP. The HDP was the good kid. Now it is vice versa. What an inconsistency!
