Devlet Bahçeli, chairman of the far right-ultranationalist National Action Party (MHP) and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s main coalition partner, has announced plans to pursue legal action against 154 politicians, journalists, lawyers, and academics the party accuses of slander.
The alleged slander relates to comments made by this group of individuals regarding the ongoing Sinan Ateş murder trial. Ateş, leader of the MHP’s Grey Wolves youth-paramilitary organization, was assassinated in a targeted hit in Ankara in late 2022.
An ongoing trial in Ankara aims to bring Ateş’s killers to justice. Since the killing, speculation has been rife regarding links between Ateş’s killers and higher-ups in the MHP party organization. Bahçeli has described such speculation as ‘character assassination’ directed towards the party.
In his statement announcing legal action, Bahçeli said:
“We have compiled a list of individuals and on what day, and at what time they targeted the MHP. This year we have seen many acts of injustice and slander towards our party. We are prepared to settle our scores with these individuals in court.”
The list of 154 names targeted by the MHP, which includes Medyascope contributors Öner Günçavdı and Berk Esen, as well as the main opposition party CHP’s chair Özgür Özel.
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Politicians: Özgür Özel, Deniz Yavuzyılmaz, Gökhan Günaydın, Ali Mahir Başarır, Sezgin Tanrıkulu, Murat Bakan, Yunus Emre, Özgür Karabat, Cumhur Uzun, Ali Öztunç, Mustafa Adıgüzel, Mahir Polat, Ümit Özdağ, Müsavat Dervişoğlu, Uğur Poyraz, Turhan Çömez, Buğra Kavuncu, Ahmet Davutoğlu, Selçuk Özdağ, Ali Babacan, Erkan Baş, Levent Tüzel, Sevda Karaca, Alper Taş, Remzi Çayır, Hüseyin Baş, Salih Uzun, Cem Toker, Doğan Aydal, Ahat Andican, Aytun Çıray, Bahattin Yücel, Ali Haydar Fırat, Emin Şirin, Fikri Sağlar, Gülay Yedekçi, Mustafa Böğürcü, Nazif Okumuş, Önay Alpago, Bahadır Erdem, Turan Aydoğan, Yavuz Ağıralioğlu, Yavuz Değirmenci, Gaye Usluer, Nesrin Nas, Ufuk Söylemez, Gülistan Kılıç Koçyiğit.
Journalists: Murat Muratoğlu, Akif Beki, Ali Kemal Erdem, Altan Sancar, Asuman Aranca, Atakan Sönmez, Ayşen Şahin, Bahadır Özgür, Barış Pehlivan, Caner Taşpınar, Çiğdem Toker, Deniz Zeyrek, Dinçer Gökçe, Nedim Türkmen, Elfin Tataroğlu, Elif Doğan Şentürk, Doğan Şentürk, Ersin Eroğlu, Fatih Ergin, Fatih Polat, Fırat Fıstık, Fikret Bila, Hakan Çelenk, Hilmi Hacaloğlu, Hüsnü Mahalli, İbrahim Kahveci, İnanç Uysal, İslam Özkan, İsmail Saymaz, Kemal Göktaş, Masum Gök, Mehmet Bal, Mehmet Tezkan, Merdan Yanardağ, Miyase İlknur, Murat Ağırel, Murat Karan, Murat Yetkin, Nevşin Mengü, Nevzat Çiçek, Nurcan Gökdemir, Orhan Uğurluoğlu, Özlem Akarsu Çelik, Emre Kongar, Sertaç Eş, Seyhan Avşar, Taha Akyol, Timur Soykan, Uğur Dündar, Yaşar Aydın, Yavuz Oğhan, Yavuz Selim Demirağ, Yıldız Yazıcıoğlu, Zübeyde Sarı, Mustafa Balbay, Mustafa Kurdaş, Hilal Köylü, Orhan Bursalı, Umut Taştan, Alican Uludağ, Namık Koçak, Özlem Gürses, Yalçın Doğan.
Written/translated by Leo Kendrick for Medyascope
