MHP leader condemns statement by retired admirals on Montreux Convention

ANKARA

The declaration of the 104 retired admirals supporting the Montreux Convention is a “black stain” on Turkey’s history of democracy, Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli said on April 6, calling on the authorities to remove their titles and abolish their pensions.

“The 104 retired admirals who were enslaved... secret ambitions are a black stain in the history of the Turkish democracy,” he said, addressing his party members.

Bahçeli suggested that the admirals committed a crime with their statement. “This crime cannot and will not go unpunished,” he said, accusing the declaration as a call for a coup.

“This statement violates the law, and [it’s] a weapon directed at the national will,” he added.

Bahçeli also criticized the timing of the declaration, saying that Turkey was at risk of survival.

He warned that Turkey could face “dangerous… events, risks and threats to its survival, something which we know from our history.”

Bahçeli criticized the leader of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, for his objection to the government’s reaction against the declaration. The CHP leader defined the government’s reaction as a “fake agenda” aiming to divert the people’s attention.

The convention is a red line for Turkey that guarantees peace and stability in the Black Sea, he noted.

“First of all, I would like to say that Montreux Convention signed in 1936 is a component and inseparable part of the Treaty of Lausanne,” Bahçeli stated.

“At the same time, it is our red line which guarantees peace and stability in the Black Sea… Moreover, there is no one in Turkey who opens the Montreux Convention for discussion or calls for abolishing it,” he added.

Bahçeli also renewed his call for restructuring the Constitutional Court, accusing the top court’s head of being impartial.

“In its current form, the Constitutional Court is unrequited in the conscience of our nation and the president of the court is not impartial. It is a responsibility of justice, politics, and democracy to restructure this court after locking its door,” he stated.