Gov’t paving way for independent Kurdistan, nationalist party leader says

ANKARA

Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli speaks at Parliament, Nov. 4. AA Photo

The promotion of the Kurdish fighters for their battle against jihadists in the Syrian border town of Kobane is actually meant to lay the ground for the establishment of an independent Kurdistan, Turkey’s nationalist opposition leader has claimed, accusing the government of "treason."

“The AKP is lending weaponry and logistical support to the two-headed snake, the PYD-PKK,” Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli said on Nov. 4, hammering the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) for its consent to the use of Turkish territory by the Peshmerga in order to cross into Kobane with arms and ammunition.

“The AKP is stabbing Turkey,” Bahçeli said, addressing his party’s parliamentary group. “Opening a corridor from Suruç to Ayn al-Arab connected the north of Iraq and the north of Syria. The battle, which is supported and polished by the Western public, of the Democratic Union Party [PYD], the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party [PKK] and the Peshmerga against the Islamic State of Levant and the Iraq [ISIL], will let them fasten themselves next to our borders. Afterwards it will pave the way for miniature separatist states, and as conditions mature Kurdistan will surface.”

The Turkish government views the PYD with deep suspicion because of its ties to the PKK. Despite refusing to send troops to fight the militants, Turkey has allowed a group of Peshmerga, the official security forces of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), to cross from northern Iraq to help defend the besieged town at its border.

The MHP leader, a major opponent of the government-led peace process aimed at ending the three-decade long conflict between Turkey’s security forces and the PKK, stated that the process has turned into “chaos.”

“Both the president and the prime minister should openly explain to the Turkish nation what should be understood from the process and what is aimed at with the process. Everybody should learn about the 'betrayal process.’ This is the most natural and legitimate right for the Turkish nation, which holds sovereignty,” Bahçeli said.

Indicating that both President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu bowed to pressure and threats by “imperialist” forces concerning the process, the MHP asked: “Mr. Erdoğan, Mr. Davutoğlu; is somebody threatening you? Have you been deceived by things we don’t know about and are these deceptions being used? Are you being blackmailed?”