MHP says ‘ready to do its part’ for forming of new gov’t

ANKARA

CİHAN photo

Despite placing strict red lines for his party regarding that formation of a coalition government, Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli has left the door ajar ahead of upcoming talks, saying his party “will not hesitate” to do its best not to let any political instability harm Turkey.

After the June 7 parliamentary election put an end to 13 years of single-party rule of the Justice and Development Party (AKP), “forming a coalition between parties whose political structure suits with each other is a priority and a necessity,” Bahçeli said in a written statement on July 9. The statement came just hours before President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was expected to formally give the mandate to Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, the leader of the AKP, which lost its parliamentary majority in the June 7 vote but won the highest number of seats.

Bahçeli cited four preconditions that must be met for the MHP to join government and “prevent instability.”
“Firstly, the PKK terror organization must dissolve itself immediately,” he said, referring to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). 

Secondly, all negotiations and promises made “from Oslo to İmralı” should be made transparent, he said, referring to the dialogue between state officials and the PKK abroad between 2009 and 2011 in a series of meetings publicly known as the “Oslo talks.” The talks collapsed after a PKK attack killed 13 soldiers near Diyarbakır in July 2011. With “İmralı” Bahçeli was referring to the jailed PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan, who is serving a life sentence in İmralı Island prison and who has at least since late 2012 played a central role in the government-led peace process aimed at ending the three-decade long conflict between Turkey’s security forces and PKK militants.

Bahçeli’s third condition was for the government to stick to the current constitutional definition of citizenship, which includes the phrase “Turkishness,” in order to “end ethnic and sectarian-based polarization.”

The fourth condition he outlined was an “effective fight against bribery and corruption,” in particular with the corruption and graft claims revealed on Dec 17 and 25, 2013 being taken to court.

“Every individual who has undertaken the administrative and political responsibility of Turkey, the president in first place, must act within boundaries drawn by laws and the constitution,” Bahçeli also said.