Harsh words and punches were exchanged in Parliament on Tuesday by MHP and AK Party deputies over the Gülhane Military Academy of Medicine’s (GATA) refusal to allow the prime minister’s wife to enter its facilities in 2007 because she wears a headscarf. Osman Durmuş, a deputy from the MHP, drew the indignation of AK Party deputies when he made fun of news reports on GATA’s refusal to allow Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s wife to enter the hospital to visit thespian Nejat Uygur in 2007 because she wears a headscarf. Analysts, talking about the reasons behind the brawl, are mostly pointing to the changing public support for the parties.According to Bugün’s Adem Yavuz Arslan, it was a planned MHP attempt to create controversy in Parliament and increase tension there. Dwelling on the possible reasons that could have prompted the MHP to act this way, he explains: “According to surveys, the MHP has reached the highest percentage of voter support over the past several years. If general elections were to be held today, this could pave the way for the MHP to be a coalition partner. Since the government will eliminate the votes of the MHP by taking more steps for the improvement of the economy and the progress of its Kurdish initiative, the MHP has put a ‘controlled tension strategy’ into action.” As for the results of the brawl in Parliament, he says it removed the allegations about the bloodiest coup plan, codenamed Sledgehammer, from the agenda and blocked the functioning of Parliament, as party groups try to avoid encountering each other. Arslan predicts that rejecting a constitutional reform package being brought to Parliament by the government would lead to political consequences for the MHP, so it is less harmful for the MHP to block the reform package this way.
“In order to understand the reasons behind the AK Party-MHP brawl, one should read the results of the 2009 local elections correctly. This election was the starting point of the AK Party-MHP fight,” says Milliyet’s Mehmet Tezkan. Recalling the election results, he says the MHP followed the Republican People’s Party (CHP) in the coastal areas of western provinces and that the AK Party had to hand administration of these provinces to the MHP. “One can say people vote for candidates more than parties in local elections. This is true, but we all know that people tend to vote for the governing party in local elections,” says Tezkan, noting that the AK Party-MHP brawl did not emerge out of the blue. Former elections were focused on an AK Party-CHP brawl, through a debate on secularism, says Tezkan, predicting that the next general elections will be focused on the AK Party-MHP brawl, through a debate on conservatism and nationalism.
Yeni Şafak’s Taha Kıvanç thinks the MHP started this debate in Parliament with the purpose of triggering yet another closure case against the AK Party. “It wants to prevent the perpetuation of the AK Party as a political party through this brawl,” he suggests.
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