The “Martyrs” of the İmralı Delegation!..

While the government and its partners are waiting with excitement for the outcome of the “Our Hope is İmralı” process initiated by MHP Leader Devlet Bahçeli, expressions are being used that make it impossible not to be surprised and to question, as the saying goes, “The devil is in the details.”

Although Bahçeli drew a boundary while initiating this obscure process, stating, “Neither Kandil nor Edirne; let the address extend from İmralı to DEM,” the designated delegation visited Selahattin Demirtaş at Edirne Prison on January 11 and Figen Yüksekdağ at Kandıra Prison on January 12.

Following the visit, Sırrı Süreyya Önder said, “There is no loser in peace.”... Ahmet Türk stated that “their efforts are for peace”... Pervin Buldan said that “they have no doubts that this process will evolve into a peace process.”

Anyone watching or hearing this would think there is a Turkish-Kurdish war in the country and these warriors are trying to end it!..

Let’s look at Selahattin Demirtaş’s message.

He used expressions such as, “İmralı is an island of isolation... Mr. Abdullah Öcalan, who exerts great effort for a democratic solution and peace... This process is a process of ‘Democratization, Peace, and Brotherhood’... We want violence to end permanently... As politicians, our mission is to strengthen the ground for peace and to encourage the parties for peace.”

Figen Yüksekdağ, who once said, “We lean our backs on the YPG and the PYD,” and to whom the then-Minister of Interior Süleyman Soylu replied, “Now we have given her 4 walls. Let her lean her back on whichever wall she wants,” said the following after the visit of the İmralı delegation:

“Honorable peace and democratic solution movement... Our peoples... The peoples of Turkey... Mr. Öcalan...”

Yes, these things were said; but no one came out and asked, “What are you talking about; when did the terrorist leader rise to the status of ‘Mr.’? When did the name of terror become violence? Who are the parties and the ‘peoples of Turkey’?” and no one could ask.

On the contrary, MHP Leader Bahçeli considered the meeting with Selahattin Demirtaş a “harmonious and honorable development”... He found the contacts and visits made by the DEM delegation “positive” and commented, “It is pleasing to witness examples of maturity in procedure and style.” Just like Sırrı Süreyya Önder, he said, “There is no loser in peace, and no winner in war.” On the other hand, he noted the following:

“The announcement by some turncoats who are uncomfortable and dissatisfied with the birth of a Turkey without terror, that two states, two flags, and two languages will be demanded, while entering a coma of delusion, is nothing but a theater of demagoguery... Let no one worry... While the MHP and the People’s Alliance exist, no treacherous and hostile attempt that would turn one into two, separate the Republic of Turkey from its 1923 founding philosophy, or abolish the unitary national state will be allowed, can be allowed, or will be allowed... Turkishness is the badge of honor of our existence. The Turkish nation is the human dignity and will to which we are proudly attached.”

THE PROMISE OF MARTYRS

Let us come to our main subject; the promises made for our martyrs and veterans regarding the process.

Even though an MHP official threatened the families of martyrs who reacted to the invitation of the terrorist leader to the Parliament, Bahçeli said, “We will not be involved in any wrongdoing that would make our martyrs turn in their graves. We will not approve of any distortion that would disappoint our veterans.”

Erdoğan emphasized that in every step taken, they observe the cherished memories of the martyrs and the sensitivities of the martyrs' relatives and veterans, and said that “our heroic martyrs are above any calculation.”

CHP Chairman Özgür Özel also stated that “they will not say ‘yes’ to anything that the families of martyrs and veterans do not say ‘yes’ to.”

THE PKK’S 38-YEAR-OLD DECISION

Let us also remind you of the mindset of the PKK and its extensions.

The separatist terrorist organization decided to accept its dead militants as so-called martyrs at its third congress in 1986.

Since then, its political extensions have been in the lead in all funeral and condolence organizations held for terrorists... Terrorist funerals were gathered in so-called martyr cemeteries... Moments of silence were held for dead terrorists at party meetings.

Now, DEM, which Bahçeli has made an interlocutor with İmralı, has followed the same path. For example, at the DEM Youth Assembly congress held in Diyarbakır in December 2023, terrorists were called “martyrs” and a moment of silence was held. Upon this, Minister of Justice Yılmaz Tunç announced that an investigation had been launched and detention orders had been issued for the crimes of “praising crime and criminals” and “making propaganda for a terrorist organization.”

After all this, let us return to the tours of the İmralı delegation.

After the Figen Yüksekdağ visit on January 12, Sırrı Süreyya Önder said exactly the following:

“All the martyrs and veterans who lost their lives or their health in this conflict process are the honor of our entire country. We all have a heavy responsibility and debt to them, and the greatest gift we can give them will be to end this conflict process and crown it with peace. After that, it is the duty of all of us as a society to support everyone who is alive and to be a companion to the relatives left behind by those who lost their lives... We feel the pain of them all in our hearts and remember them with mercy.”

It was crystal clear that when Önder said “all martyrs and veterans,” he included terrorists in this scope.

But unfortunately, no one among those who made those promises for our martyrs and veterans objected to this treacherous equation. It was officially ignored and overlooked!..

WHERE WILL THE OPERATIONS LEAD?

Zafer Party Chairman Prof. Ümit Özdağ says he was arrested because he opposed this new opening.

İYİ Party Chairman Müsavat Dervişoğlu, who also opposes the opening, says, “Operations may be carried out against us.”

In this very environment, Erdoğan announces that he is pleased to see that different political parties share a common sentiment regarding the process.

It seems he is not pleased with those who do not share that “common sentiment”!..

As is known, the book of justice in Turkey is practically being rewritten.

The latest example; the file regarding Manager Ayşe Barım, who was accused of monopolization in the TV series sector and organizing “advertising love,” was suddenly turned into a Gezi investigation. While Barım was being detained, artists who participated in the Gezi protests were called to testify.

For some reason, upon this very strange development, one of the “must-haves” of the terrorist leader in İmralı during the first opening process came to my mind.

While the terrorist leader was setting the condition for the establishment of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission, he had said, “Even the fate of our funerals is unknown. Who killed our thousands of people underground?... There are thousands of crimes committed in the name of the state... All of these must be revealed with this commission... Four thousand villages were burned. This is exactly why we want a Truth Commission. It is very important to confront these gladio structures. We will reveal the mindset that makes brother kill brother. The basis of my meetings with the delegation is to reveal this nature of the gladio.”

The goal was to hold those who fought against terror accountable. It was partially done in the Ergenekon and Balyoz frame-up cases.

As we see in the Ayşe Barım case; would you like the operations to intimidate those who oppose the opening to also be turned into completing that reckoning!..

Müyesser YILDIZ

January 26, 2025