At the opening of the new legislative year on October 1, MHP Chairman Devlet Bahçeli’s handshake with the co-chairs and members of parliament of the DEM Party marked the first sign that Turkey was entering a new era. However, no one had any idea what kind of era this would be.
A few weeks later, in a speech to his party’s parliamentary group, Bahçeli stepped up his rhetoric.
“If the terrorist leader’s isolation is lifted, let him come and speak at the DEM Party caucus meeting in the Grand National Assembly. Let him proclaim that terrorism has completely ended and that the organization has been dissolved,” he said, putting forward the most concrete and radical proposal for a new resolution process. However, he emphasized that this was not a new ‘resolution process.’ He also argued that there is no such thing as a “Kurdish issue.”.
“Take this rope and hang…”
MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli, at a rally in Erzurum on June 30 in the run-up to the 2007 general elections, pulled out the noose he had brought with him and called on Erdoğan to hang Abdullah Öcalan, saying, “If you don’t have the money for a rope, just take this and hang him.”.
Bahçeli, who in 2002 paved the way for a change in the law by not opposing the abolition of the death penalty—thereby preventing the execution of Abdullah Öcalan, who had been sentenced to death that year—was throwing a lifeline to Erdoğan five years later to have Öcalan executed.
Seventeen years later, this time he himself was proposing to release Öcalan from İmralı, and this time, Müsavat Dervişoğlu—who had been his political ally at the time and is now the chairman of the İYİ Party—was throwing the noose around his neck.
The difference is that while the rope Bahçeli threw disappeared in the square in Erzurum, the rope Dervişoğlu threw from the podium in Parliament was picked up by Bahçeli and hung in his office!
Who came up with the idea?
So what happened to make Bahçeli—who 17 years ago urged Erdoğan to hang Öcalan—want to bring Öcalan out of İmralı and into Parliament today? Setting aside certain developments in the Middle East, a look at the inner circle around Bahçeli actually sheds some light on this issue.
Türköne's release from prison
Devlet Bahçeli played a key role in the recent release of several prominent figures from prison in Turkey.
He had a special amendment made to the penal code to secure Alaattin Çakıcı’s release, and in return, Çakıcı paid his first visit to Bahçeli after his release. .
The MHP leader made a striking statement in 2020 regarding the court-ordered release of Nazlı Ilıcak and Ahmet Altan, who had been arrested following the July 15 coup attempt, saying, “The rulings made public regarding certain FETÖ cases have deeply troubled the national conscience.”.
Bahçeli posted the following: “In a climate where Osman Kavala, the Altan brothers, Nazlı Ilıcak, and many other controversial figures are being portrayed as innocent, the case of my martyred older brother, Mümtaz’er Türköne, must be re-examined with the utmost care.”.
Following Bahçeli’s remarks, the 16th Criminal Chamber of the Court of Cassation overturned the prison sentence handed down to Türköne—who was on trial while in custody—on charges of ’membership in an armed terrorist organization.“ Less than three months passed between Bahçeli’s statement and Türköne’s release.
Mustafa Türköne, the brother of Prof. Mümtaz’er Türköne—who had also served on the board of directors of the Ülkü Ocakları Association for a time prior to the September 12, 1980, coup—was killed by a left-wing organization in 1979. This incident was the reason Bahçeli vouched for Türköne.
“Let Öcalan be sent to Bodrum as a pasha”
Mümtazer Türköne gave an interview to the Akşam newspaper in 2009 while writing for the Zaman newspaper, which was later shut down due to its ties to FETÖ.
In this interview, given years before the peace process began, Türköne said the following:
“If Turkey is to resolve the problem that has been devastating the country through this opening, measures such as keeping Abdullah Öcalan under surveillance or placing him under compulsory residence could be considered. From the state’s perspective, this is a method of suppressing an uprising. The state is suppressing the uprising. To this end, the state pardons the ringleaders of the rebellion. The Ottoman Empire was a state that suppressed many rebellions. While suppressing a rebellion, it would pardon the instigator, exile him to a distant province, and then grant him a salary. It also grants them the rank of pasha. These are referred to as ‘rebel pashas.’ In the Ottoman Empire, there were three types of pashas: military pashas, civil pashas, and rebel pashas. So, if you approach the matter from an Ottoman perspective, Apo could be granted the rank of pasha. – Can you give an example from Ottoman history? Chapter 4 of *Tezakir* describes how Ahmet Cevdet Pasha went to suppress the Kozandağı rebellion in the 1860s. After sitting down to talk with the tribal leaders and prominent figures of the community and reaching a compromise with the rebels, he granted the rank of pasha to the leaders of the rebels and sent them into compulsory residence in Edirne. So he’s exiled from Çukurova to Edirne. Then he’s put on the government payroll. – So where would we exile Abdullah Öcalan in this scenario? I suggest thinking big, like the Ottomans did. As far as I’m concerned, I suggest sending him to Bodrum, specifically to Türkbükü in Bodrum. Let’s say that if Cevdet Pasha were here, that’s exactly what he would do.’
Türköne, who back then proposed that Öcalan be released and sent to Türkbükü, is also the mastermind behind Devlet Bahçeli’s plan to ‘bring Öcalan to Parliament’—the very man who secured his release from prison.
Mümtazer Türköne, who has not appeared in public since his release, occasionally writes articles for a little-known news site.
Türköne wrote a striking piece just after Devlet Bahçeli’s remarks about Öcalan—first regarding the appointment of a trustee to the CHP-run municipality in Esenyurt, and then to DEM Party-led municipalities in Mardin, Batman, and Halfeti, prompting the question, ‘Did the process end before it even began?’.
“Summarizing the situation as ”the state against the government,‘ Türköne noted that Erdoğan was unaware of the Öcalan statement and Bahçeli was unaware of the appointment of trustees, and added that the government’s (Erdoğan) resisting this ’state project” could lead to early elections, thereby sending a warning message to Erdoğan.
On the other hand, Erdoğan’s message—delivered through Abdülkadir Sevi, one of his closest associates—“Next week, we’ll have a completely different agenda. I’m not just saying this for the sake of saying it,” indicated that there is a disagreement within the People’s Alliance regarding the process and methods, and that unexpected moves from both sides could be on the horizon.