Politicians stand against ‘sex tape politics' in wake of MHP resignations

The opposition MHP was shaken on Saturday by the resignations of six more top party executives after a group which earlier threatened to release sex tapes involving them if they fail to resign released one.

Ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) parliamentary group deputy chairman Mustafa Elitaş said “deep forces” are trying to steer Turkish politics with the new sex tape scandals. “These sex tape incidents are part of an operation by some deep forces to dig a Silivri-Ankara tunnel,” he said on Sunday. The politician was referring to the alleged Ergenekon terrorist organization, whose members are jailed in Silivri Prison on suspicion of plotting to overthrow the government by creating large-scale chaos in the country.

Elitaş argued that these groups are trying to portray the ruling party as the entity behind these scandals. He said these groups aim to eliminate MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli and decrease support for the MHP while boosting support for the Republican People's Party (CHP) against the AK Party. “What we're talking about [the affairs of MHP executives] is ugly. Giving them to some websites is even uglier. However, I am uneasy with the MHP's efforts to involve us in this ugliness while trying to get rid of it,” he said.

CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu was also asked about the resignations on Sunday. “It is not appropriate to engage in politics over illegal matters. I do not find it moral,” he told reporters.

Voice of the People Party (HAS Party) leader Numan Kurtulmuş said that “serious individual immorality is in question in these incidents.” However, he said, it is also immoral to shape politics with such tapes. “This is not appropriate,” he said.

The MHP has recently been trying to cope with the release of sex videos involving its politicians. A group, which calls itself Farklı Ülkücülük (Different Idealism), said earlier last week in a letter published on its website that MHP leader Bahçeli had until 10 a.m. on May 18 to resign. “We are giving you a final warning. We do not want to release tapes that we have in our possession,” the letter said, warning that the videos released so far are only “the tip of the iceberg.”

Hours before the deadline set for Bahçeli to resign, the group published a new message and announced the names of those featured in the sex videos in its possession. The names included four MHP deputy chairmen as well as the party's secretary-general and a member of the party's Presidency Council. The group is targeting MHP Deputy Chairmen Mehmet Ekici, Osman Çakır, Ümit Şafak and Ahmet Deniz Bölükbaşı, MHP Secretary-General Cihan Paçacı and MHP Presidency Council member Mehmet Taytak. The group threatened to release the sex videos of all in addition to video recordings of Taytak and Bölükbaşı during party meetings.

“If those who are mentioned above resign from both their posts in the party and their deputy candidacy, we promise not to publish these videos. However, we are announcing to the public that we will publish the videos if they fail to resign,” the group said on its website early on Wednesday.

The group earlier published sex tapes involving MHP politicians Recai Yıldırım, Metin Çobanoğlu, Bülent Didinmez and İhsan Barutçu, which resulted in their resignation from their posts.

Bahçeli and the six deputies refused to resign in the face of the new threat, with Bahçeli saying neither he nor any other party member would resign, calling on the group to make public what they have.

However, after the group published images featuring Ekici early on Saturday and threatened to release those of the others, resignations followed one after another. The six politicians resigned from their party membership and withdrew from their run for Parliament. “I have resigned … to prevent these conspiracies and fake allegations triggering disputes which could harm the MHP going into the elections,” Bölükbaşı said in a written statement. He said dark forces at home and abroad were behind “this ugly political conspiracy.”

The latest resignations brought to 10 the number of senior MHP party members to resign over the video scandal.

MHP leader Bahçeli, who appeared dejected on Saturday while addressing an election rally of several thousand similarly despondent looking supporters in the central Turkish province of Nevşehir, put a brave face on the resignations. “Those who have resigned may have been aiming to make it easier for the party. We are continuing our struggle,” he said before the rally.