Name change not enough for MHP
ANKARA
Chairman of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Devlet Bahçeli says changing the name [of the commission] is not enough. DHA photo
A change in the name of the commission planned to be established under the roof of the Parliament aimed at solving the Kurdish question is not enough to convince the nationalist oppositional party to join the initiative, its leader has said.“Those who think that we might discuss the PKK-originated ideas by changing the name [of the commission] are mistaking,” Devlet Bahçeli, chairman of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) told reporters late Sunday. Bahçeli’s statement was a response to Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, leader of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) who offered a blank check to Bahçeli for renaming the Societal Conciliation Commission he proposed to establish.
The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) accepted the CHP’s proposal and went further to suggest a dual mechanism if the MHP and Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) object to joining this effort.
Bahçeli repeated his well-known rhetoric that Turkey had no Kurdish problem only terror trouble.
“Everyone is an equal and honorable member of the Turkish nation. Those who are hiding behind democracy and freedom words are trying to end the 1,000-year-old brotherhood,” he said.
Bahçeli denied that it was a problem of access to fundamental rights. “Who is superior to another person? Who is inferior to other? How come people talk about the Kurdish problem under this circumstance?”
Bahçeli indicated the United Kingdom had started a campaign to create disintegration in the Middle East a long time ago and that the traps of past are still active.
“The aim of the alleged Kurdish problem is obvious. They want to ground Turkish nationalism in the treadmill of micro nationalism. AKP and CHP are tools used by this betrayal,” Bahçeli said. He stated that CHP’s offer of establishing a group was not different from imprisoned leader of the PKK Abdullah Öcalan’s offer and repeated that his party will never take part in such betrayal.
In response to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s accusations that the MHP saved Öcalan from being executed after his arrest in late 1999, deputy MHP leader Oktay Vural recalled that the MHP deputies voted against the move in the Parliament at that time. “Our stance is clear and net on this issue. No one can smear the MHP”, he said at a press conference yesterday.
