What would Sinan Ateş have said about Bahçeli’s opening?

Since MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli’s “historic” opening regarding the terrorist leader, one of the questions that has been turning in my mind is this:

If Sinan Ateş, the former head of the Idealist Hearths (Ülkü Ocakları) who was murdered in the middle of Ankara, were still alive, what would he have said about the idea of bringing the terrorist leader from İmralı to the Parliament to make a speech there, make statements regarding the PKK, and subsequently be released by benefiting from the “right to hope”?

Before answering this question, let us present a selection of Bahçeli’s feelings and thoughts regarding the terrorist leader during the period when the AKP sat at the negotiation table with İmralı.

'UNPRECEDENTED DISGRACE'

For example; he emphasized that the Prime Minister had performed a “blood and heart transplant” on the terrorist leader...

He pointed out that the government had resurrected a terrorist sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment with concessions that one could not even imagine...

He reacted to the AKP’s “solution” formula with the words: “If the İmralı monster is released, democracy will strengthen; if terrorists are brought into politics, freedom will spread; if ideas, not weapons, speak, no one will be able to stop Turkey; is that so? Damn your solution, damn your peace, may your understanding of freedom and peace go to the bottom of the earth, damn your process of sedition.”

Regarding the enactment of the “Law on the Termination of Terrorism and the Strengthening of Social Integration” by the TBMM (Grand National Assembly of Turkey) at the request of the terrorist leader, he said: “This destruction plan for Turkey is the gain of the İmralı monster and his gang... Referring PKK demands to the TBMM is an unprecedented disgrace and an unseen decay since April 23, 1920.”

Bahçeli also had things to say about the tent court established in Habur on October 13, 2009, for the PKK members who came to the country upon the instructions of the terrorist leader.

Describing Habur as a “grave development,” a “black picture,” and a “treacherous scenario,” he declared that “if Turkey is a state of law, the Prime Minister, the relevant ministers, and all officials at every level who were instrumental in this will definitely be held accountable when the time comes.”

SİNAN ATEŞ WAS ON THE PKK’S DEATH LIST

As for the answer to the question, “What would the late Sinan Ateş have said about recent events?”

I directed this question to his wife, Ayşe Ateş.

First, she shared with us that Sinan Ateş was on the PKK’s death list, and for this reason, a “protection upon request” decision was taken for him by the state without any request from him. Do you know the date of the aforementioned decision sent by the Ankara Police Department to Sinan Ateş with the title “Former President of the Idealist Hearths Education and Culture Foundation”? March 8, 2021; that is, just 10 months before Sinan Ateş was murdered.

Ayşe Ateş also underlined that while the state was taking this protection decision against the PKK, the lawsuits she filed against the threats coming from the MHP community always resulted in non-prosecution decisions.

HAS 'TURKISH NATIONALISM BECOME THE STATE MIND'?

The second point Ayşe Ateş drew attention to was a video shared by Sinan Ateş’s sister, Selma Ateş, after Bahçeli’s statement regarding the terrorist leader. In this video, which appears to be from a few years ago, we see Sinan Ateş making the following assessment regarding the Habur disgrace:

“October 19, 2009, friends, I never forget this date. I mean, I know I sat and sobbed. PKK members entered from Habur like heroes and were welcomed. A tent court was set up. The prosecutor asks; ‘You are regretful, aren’t you?’ he says. The PKK terrorist says, ‘No, I am not regretful. I brought Leader Apo’s letter.’ He says, ‘Write: regretful,’ and releases him. They were welcomed like heroes. If PKK members were welcomed like heroes that day, and today, 10 years later, they are being put in yellow bags, it means Turkish nationalism has become the state mind.”

As our longing for you flares up with each passing day, my brother,
we understand your importance for the existence of the Turkish nation better every day.
We miss you so much...#JusticeForSinanATES#Idealists pic.twitter.com/XpHyVPshjB

— Selma SiNAN ATEŞ (@selmaateskazanc) October 23, 2024

After all this, Ayşe Ateş gave the following answer to our question:

“It is impossible for Sinan Ateş to accept what is being said; it is not something he could stomach. In fact, the reason they brought him to this end was that he could not accept what they were doing and that he would cause problems in the future. He was seen as a potential leader. If he had lived, many things would have been different. That is why they did not let him live.”

Müyesser YILDIZ

October 26, 2024