Bahçeli: Parliament will witness historic showdown over initiative

“The MHP is eagerly awaiting the historic showdown as it will clearly expose the real face of the prime minister,” remarked Bahçeli on Tuesday during a parliamentary group meeting. According to the MHP leader, the government’s Kurdish initiative has offended the country’s martyrs and war veterans, to whom the nation owes it past, present and future.

“The stance of the government towards terrorists who crossed our border with official ceremonies hurt our public deeply,” he said.

Bahçeli was referring to a series of celebrations organized by the country’s pro-Kurdish party, the Democratic Society Party (DTP), for a group of members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) who turned themselves in to Turkish security forces last month.

“Millions of our citizens took to the streets. They were looking for a government representative or statesman who could lend an ear to their problems or wipe away their tears. However, the courtesy shown to terrorists was not shown to those people whose souls were hurt. … The government opened its arms to murderers but turned its back on war veterans,” said the MHP leader.

He also reiterated his party’s strong opposition to the government’s Kurdish initiative, saying the MHP has closed its doors to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his proposals.

Bahçeli also dwelled on a military action plan that aimed to undermine the power of the ruling party, which most observers deemed a preparation for a military coup. “Turkey should get rid of such searches. We cannot accept [the military’s] aspirations for a political intervention that are apparently ongoing,” he remarked.

A military plan to undermine the power of the governing Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and the faith-based Gülen movement was first exposed in June, but it received a harsh denial by the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK). However, the original version of the plot was discovered last month, sparking a huge public outcry, with a large segment of society standing against the military’s plans for a coup.