MHP leader criticizes opposition lawmaker for insulting family of martyr

ANKARA

Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Chair Devlet Bahçeli has criticized İYİ (Good) Party lawmaker Lütfü Türkkan for swearing at a protestor in the eastern province of Bingöl.

“To swear at the sister of a martyr is indecent, dishonest, and the language of the enemy,” Bahçeli said on Nov. 9 at his party’s parliamentary group meeting, without naming Türkkan.

The families of the martyrs are entrusted to the vast foresight of the nation, he said, adding that insulting and swearing at them is, in a way, “treason” to the martyrs.

The MHP leader also criticized main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) and its leader, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, for not responding to the act of Türkkan.

Bahçeli also urged the government to carry out a cross-border military operation against the PKK in line with a motion allowing such moves.   

“The legitimate use of [military] force will spoil their game, and whoever targets our national security and our national presence and also plots their assassination will pay the heaviest, Bahçeli stated.

“The motion is clear, the verdict is fixed, the expectations of our sovereign nation are high, there’s no safe place for terrorist groups anymore,” he added.    

Turkey’s parliament on Oct. 26 ratified a motion extending authorization to launch cross-border anti-terrorist operations in northern Iraq and Syria for two more years.      

Bahçeli called for a military operation on Mt. Qandil, the PKK’s main base in northern Iraq, across Turkey’s southern border. “Now there’s no other choice in this matter,” he added.