MHP’s Bahçeli warns Kurdish voters not to be ‘deceived’

ANKARA

AA Photo

Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli has issued a warning particularly addressed to Kurdish citizens, asking them not be deceived by a “plot aiming to annul the Lausanne Treaty,” referring to the historic treaty that is widely acclaimed as the basis of the independence and unitary structure of the Turkish state.

“My sacred citizens should know that the so-called Kurdish problem and ‘being Türkiyeli’ is the cover behind which separatism hides itself,” Bahçeli said in the statement.

“Türkiye” being the name of the country, a number of academics have long argued that “Türkiyeli” should be used instead of “Türk” in order to express a higher identity that can also include Kurds.

 “Hiding PKK demands behind the screen of democracy and freedom has been regarded as necessary and a condition for breaking the Lausanne [Treaty], annulling the foundation principles [of the state] and violating the national oath and ideals,” Bahçeli said.

“My Kurdish-origin brothers are on the eve of a historic duty. All of my Kurdish origin brothers should go to the ballot boxes in order to show the blood merchants their place,” he added, in reference to next month’s presidential elections.

Bahçeli also argued Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s ascent to presidency will please the jailed leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), Abdullah Öcalan.

The text of the statement was sent to political parties, civil society organizations, MHP local branches and the editors-in-chief of television stations and newspapers, Anadolu Agency reported on July 23.

The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), however, were not among those political parties.