Nationalist party leader warns PM not to polarize society

ANKARA

Bahçeli called on the prime minister to give up on tough rhetoric. DAILY NEWS photo / Selahattin SÖNMEZ

Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) head Devlet Bahçeli urged the Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan not to further polarize the society with his rhetoric and the recent rally decision the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has made.

“Prime minister, I am warning you: You must immediately give up your rhetoric by being raised to the bait by the crowds, on spreading the seeds of hostility to motivate and consolidate your electorate,” Bahçeli said, speaking in his parliamentary group meeting Tuesday.

“We wonder how much more the prime minister will provoke the hostilities, will deepen this polarization,” Bahçeli said regarding the government’s planned rallies. Bahçeli also argued that Erdoğan was once again exploiting the issue of headscarves, while antagonizing the sensitivities on mosques by alleging that protesters drank alcohol in Dolmabahçe Mosque in Istanbul during protests, despite rejection of this claim by the mosque’s muezzin.

“He acts as the wildest provocateur of all times. He seems ready to create discord among the people like a bomb whose pin has been pulled,” Bahçeli said. While urging for the infamous “interest rate lobby” to be investigated, he also said: “Those who you said you will suffocate, have they been suffocating you for 10 years?” He announced that the MHP would be submitting a proposal of a parliamentary inquiry into this “lobby.”