Did the 'First Bullet' celebrations not bother you at all?!

“They are trying to make progress by lulling the nation to sleep under the guise of “using responsible language,” yet DEM Co-Chair Tuncer Bakırhan said in a speech, “We have never had any issues with this country’s capital, language, or flag. It has never been a topic of discussion for us.”

He received the greatest praise from the government’s voice, Abdülkadir Selvi. Selvi “heartily congratulated” Bakırhan for “using a very responsible language.”

True, they have not opened Turkey’s capital, language, or flag to debate until now. Because it would take courage... But unfortunately, at this rate, they will open those to debate as well!..

Okay, they didn’t debate them, but aren’t they asking for Kurdish to be the second official language by saying “education in the mother tongue” at every opportunity?.. Aren’t they treating Diyarbakır as a de facto capital by calling it “Amed”?.. Don’t they hang the “yellow-red-green” cloth at their ceremonies and meetings?.. And furthermore, don’t they sing “Ey Rakip” or the “PKK anthem”?..

Wasn’t that so-called anthem sung just last June at the commemoration of two killed PKK members?

Even if Tuncer Bakırhan deigned to stand up while the National Anthem was being played at the Hacı Bektaş Veli Commemoration Ceremonies just last week, didn’t the fact that he bowed his head and clasped his hands in front show that they have a “problem”?

The PKK has dissolved itself and laid down its arms, is that so? At the “peace and democratic society meetings” organized by DEM in the terrorist leader’s village in Şanlıurfa; weren’t slogans of “PKK is the people, the people are here” chanted and wasn’t it said that “the PKK has not ended and will not end”?

The call from the terrorist leader in İmralı covered not just the PKK, but also the KCK, YPG/PYD, and PJAK, right? What the YPG/PYD is doing in Syria is obvious... PJAK said “no”... As for the terrorist organization’s umbrella structure, the KCK; on the occasion of the 41st anniversary of the Eruh and Şemdinli raids, where the PKK carried out its first armed attack—which they describe as the “day of the first bullet” and “resurrection day”—it issued a call to “properly commemorate the heroes of the August 15 line.”

In the aforementioned call, it was stated: “The Kurdish people, who have been subjected to genocide on the basis of denial and assimilation, whose name is no longer even mentioned and who face an existential problem, have been saved from extinction, gained existence, and secured their freedom with the epic August 15 breakthrough and history of resistance,” and the following was emphasized:

“President Apo has initiated the ‘democratic society manifesto’ process on the basis of completing the process of gaining existence and linking existence to the status of freedom... the democratic society-democratic republic solution now requires dialogue, negotiation, and a democratic political method based on legal recognition. The democratic solution process is the success of President Apo, our great history of resistance, and the sacred efforts of our martyrs... On this basis, we celebrate the August 15 holiday of all our comrades, the Kurdish people, the peoples, women, youth, faiths, and laborers, and we promise our people that we will crown this glorious history with a libertarian victory of solution.”

The result?

Those attacks, in which Gendarmerie Corporal Commando Private Süleyman Aydın and Gendarmerie Staff Sergeant Memiş Arıbaş were martyred and 9 of our soldiers were wounded, were sanctified with fireworks displays not only in their lairs in the mountains or in Europe, but all across our country!..

Our question is this:

Those who tried to persuade Tunceli Governor Bülent Tekbıyıkoğlu—who left his post because he did not allow the commemoration of the two terrorists killed by the MIT—by saying, “They won’t cause any trouble, they will just pray”; did they not prevent these provocations on August 15 because they didn’t hear about them, or because they didn’t want the “PKK members to be offended and the process to be harmed”?!

One last piece of news from the successful (!) process; in a recent Amedspor match, “biji serok Apo” slogans were chanted... Those who are uncomfortable with people saying “We are the soldiers of Mustafa Kemal” in stadiums felt not the slightest discomfort in the face of this picture.

“They Couldn’t Even Call It a ‘Provocation’”

Let’s go back 12 years; to January 22, 2013. Criticizing the “opening-scattering” process, MHP Leader Devlet Bahçeli asked, “How will the murderers who have specialized in killing and destroying since the 1984 Eruh raid suddenly find guidance and abandon their weapons and targets?” and continued his questions as follows:

“How will those who see the weapon as insurance suddenly give up their goals? We are wondering, what is peace, and who are its parties? If peace is being mentioned, has a war been entered into and is this what is intended to be ended? If there was a war, who or what does the opposing front consist of? Has the PKK become the equal and interlocutor of the Turkish state? Who does the İmralı murderer represent, and in whose name is he speaking? What and which topics are being planned under the title of solution? What are the mindless ones who keep saying solution, solution, expecting and wanting with this?”

The date is August 16, 2014; it was revealed that a statue of Mahsum Korkmaz, the PKK terrorist leader who carried out those attacks on the 30th anniversary of the PKK’s “first bullet” in Eruh-Şemdinli, had been erected at the entrance of a so-called PKK cemetery in Diyarbakır’s Lice district. Upon this disgrace, MHP Leader Devlet Bahçeli made a written statement and noted the following:

“This vile attempt and challenge has not only made the bones of our beloved martyrs ache; it has turned into a very clear, very explicit, and very dirty attack on Turkey’s national, spiritual, and historical rights. We are now faced with a picture of Turkey where so-called cemeteries are established for PKK members, statues of murderers are erected, praises are heaped upon treason, and those accompanying the dissolution and division receive approval and encouragement. No citizen who possesses a conscience, who is fair, faithful, assertive, and lives a principled life will accept such a defeat and disgrace. It is an undeniable fact that every vote given to Erdoğan on August 10 went to the PKK, increased Kandil’s courage, and instilled hope in the terrorists... The unveiling of the PKK statue rising in Diyarbakır’s Lice after August 10 should not be seen as surprising in terms of timing... In no honorable, national, and civilized country in the world can a second country be seen where terrorists are sanctified, highlighted, and rewarded with monuments through government tolerance... Erdoğan and his gang of evil, who erase the TC (Republic of Turkey) from signs, scrape away Turkishness, and tear out nationalism, are rotting the Turkish nation from within by making the PKK celebrate... Even if everyone remains silent against the despot of this era, who strokes the hearts of separatist circles with the nonsense of ‘Turkism’ in his balcony speech, pours water on their hearts, and gives them all a blank check, the MHP will never be silent. As long as those who erect terrorist statues in Diyarbakır do not account for the martyr blood they shed, and as long as the Erdoğan and Öcalan treason does not receive the treatment it deserves, a peaceful sleep will be forbidden to the Nationalist-Idealist Movement... Let it not be forgotten that if a statue of PKK members is erected today, it means the homeland will be divided tomorrow, the flag will be lowered, the state will collapse, and the nation’s grave will be dug.”

In a press conference he held four days later, Bahçeli also claimed that “Erdoğan, who was elected the 12th President, is currently destroying the Republic of Turkey step by step,” and spoke as follows:

“Let us not forget that those who erect the statue of the terrorist who fired the first bullet at the Mehmetçik (Turkish soldier) and those who were forced to tear it down in the face of reactions are travelers on the same path. There was not a peep from Erdoğan regarding the bloody statue that stood erect for 4 days and did not fall from the sky, and no criticism came from the AKP other than that it was a provocation. Those who watched it being erected are as much partners in the crime committed as those who erected the PKK statue... From our perspective, the whole lot, from the PKK to the AKP, who made, commissioned, built, and permitted the construction of the statue of treason, have abetted treason in the eyes of the nation and before the law... The new Turkey is a fake and defective product of those who erect statues for the PKK and those who turn a blind eye to their erection... For this reason, we were the first to show and express the most categorical reaction to the PKK statue, which is the first product of the new Turkey attempt. Even if the sculptor Erdoğan insults the martyrs by remaining silent about the PKK statue, we became the interpreter of the Turkish nation. The statue erected in Lice has murdered our first martyr Süleyman Aydın once again... Erdoğan needs the PKK and the İmralı murderer to completely destroy the Republic and become President. For this, terrorists are tolerated, and public opinion is both prepared for and accustomed to dissolution and collapse.”

In short; recently, even the inappropriate actions of a foreign female tourist on a flagpole in Nevşehir were condemned and reacted to, and an investigation was launched against the woman, yet no one even called the PKK’s “first bullet” celebrations a “provocation.”

Thus, Gendarmerie Corporal Commando Private Süleyman Aydın and Gendarmerie Staff Sergeant Memiş Arıbaş were murdered once again before all our eyes 41 years later!..

Müyesser YILDIZ

August 24, 2025