Devlet Bahçeli, chairman of the ultranationalist Nationalist Action Party (MHP) and main coalition partner of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has confirmed a recent report by journalist İsmail Saymaz. In the report, Saymaz alleged the MHP head proposed a system in which Turkey has two vice presidents, one Kurdish and one Alevi, in a closed door meeting with other party officials.
| Turkey: Nationalist party head proposes sectarian government split |
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| Turkey: Nationalist party head proposes sectarian government split |
Kurds and Alevis represent two of Turkey’s largest minority groups.
Following the release of Saymaz’s report, the idea proposed by Bahçeli was criticized by some as resembling Lebanon’s style of government, which splits power between the country’s various religious sects.
In a written response to Saymaz’s report, Bahçeli confirmed the suggestion of Alevi and Kurdish vice presidents while criticizing the comparison to Lebanon:
“At the moment, our ‘Terror-Free Turkey’ initiative is gradually advancing against ethnic and sectarian impositions that exhaust, wear down, sap our energy, and impose exorbitant social and economic costs on our country. During this ongoing process, the idea has been entertained that one of the two Vice Presidents could be Alevi and the other Kurdish. Associating this idea and political proposal with Lebanon is, first of all, a distortion and a deliberate distortion of a sincere thought.”
Bahçeli continued to describe Lebanon as ‘chaotic’ and ‘unstable’, while scolding anyone making the comparison.
In the letter, Bahçeli also criticized İsmail Saymaz, calling him a ‘so-called journalist’:
“The fact that my remarks at the closed-door meeting were leaked to a certain so-called journalist, and that this was presented as some sort of expository back-channel gossip is significant given its timing. And it’s in our notes. The Nationalist Movement Party is ready to face any attack.”
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Saymaz, a well-known journalist in Turkey, works for the opposition-linked Halk TV network.
Saymaz’s report comes in the context of an ongoing solution process that was initiated by Bahçeli aimed at solving Turkey’s long-running Kurdish issue. In a major development on July 11th, 30 militants belonging to the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) burnt their weapons at a ceremony in northern Iraq symbolizing their announced disarmament.
Translated for Medyascope by Leo Kendrick
