MHP attacks gov’t over foreign policy

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

A Somalian boy kisses the hand of the MHP leader Bahçeli. Bahçeli has lashed out at the AKP over its foreign policy, charging that it is fuelling a crisis in the region. DAILY NEWS photo, Selahattin SÖNMEZ

The leader of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), Devlet Bahçeli, lashed out at the ruling party yesterday over its foreign policy, charging that it was fuelling a crisis between Shiites and Sunnis in the region on behalf of the U.S.

“In line with certain global plans, the Justice and Development Party [AKP] has become… an inciter of sectarian tensions centered in Iraq. It has become an enemy of [Iraqi Prime Minister] Nouri al-Maliki [by harboring wanted Iraqi Vice President] Tareq al-Hashimi,” Bahçeli said in speech in Parliament. “The AKP mindset is to conduct all its policies under U.S. guidance.”

Bahçeli raised questions about the recent talks between Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Iraqi Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani, and Erdoğan’s assertion that the army would stop its operations against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) if the militants lay down their arms. “What promises did he make to the PKK’s protector? Did they reach an agreement on the creation of Kurdistan? Is the break-up of Iraq part of the calculations behind burning our bridges with the central Iraqi administration?” Bahçeli said.

In remarks the previous day, Bahçeli had spoken of a mounting possibility that an independent Kurdistan would emerge from Iraq. He warned that such a prospect would inevitably lead to a drive for a “united Kurdistan,” and that in this case territorial claims would be made upon Turkey.