Will Bahçeli also meet with İmralı?!

This time, artist Yılmaz Erdoğan called MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli to thank him for his contributions to the “Turkey without terrorism” process. Bahçeli, in turn, stated that he has been following the series İnci Taneleri, which Yılmaz Erdoğan wrote and starred in, with interest, and congratulated him on his successful performance.

No, we will not remind you that Yılmaz Erdoğan was one of the “wise men” of the 2013 “opening-scattering” process, and that Bahçeli had torn that process to shreds.

Just 1 year ago, at a rally Bahçeli held in Manisa for the local elections, he reacted to the İnci Taneleri series exactly as follows:

“In this period when our astronaut brother Alper Gezeravcı has gone to space and Turkey has turned its head to the heights; the serving of the Dilber character through a TV series carries another undeniable contradiction and, in terms of timing, a sign of a meaningful conspiracy.”

''IF BAHÇELİ HAS TRANSFORMED, EVERYONE WILL TRANSFORM''

Let’s come to Bahçeli’s other phone calls.

On the day they read the call from the terrorist leader in İmralı, he called not only DEM Co-Chair Tuncer Bakırhan but also Ahmet Türk, Pervin Buldan, and Sırrı Süreyya Önder.

While Bahçeli thanked Ahmet Türk and said, “We hope everything will go well, I am very happy about this,” he told Pervin Buldan the following:

“I thank you for the effort you have put in. I was very pleased that you read the text. I will do my best.”

After Pervin Buldan recounted these, she also explained the thoughts of the terrorist leader and herself regarding Bahçeli as follows:

“It is very important that a person who wanted Öcalan’s execution and walked around with a rope in his hand embraces the process, supports it, and says, ‘I will do my best for the process to move forward’... I think what has happened as of October 1 is valuable in the person of Mr. Bahçeli. It is important that he supports the process this much. Öcalan also finds this very valuable... (Öcalan) said, ‘If Mr. Bahçeli has transformed, everyone will transform.’”

WHAT WAS BÜLENT ARINÇ'S CRIME?

Let’s leave Bahçeli’s conversation with Sırrı Süreyya Önder for last and look at his most remarkable meeting.

This meeting was first announced by the famous Nagehan Alçı.

Since the question of how a phone call with someone in prison took place would be debated, the matter was clarified, and it was explained that Bahçeli called while Demirtaş was at the hospital for his wife’s surgery.

As I will explain in detail with examples in another article; regardless of where Demirtaş is, this was of course not legally possible. This time, it was reported that the call was made via the phone of a DEM Party official who was with Selahattin Demirtaş at the time.

Ultimately, Sırrı Süreyya Önder explained that Bahçeli and Demirtaş spoke on his own phone; that Bahçeli wished Başak Demirtaş a speedy recovery, asked Selahattin Demirtaş if he needed anything, and said, “I hope good days, beautiful days will come, take care of your health.”

In the meantime, noting that comments were made that “this gesture could pave the way for Demirtaş’s release in the future as a requirement of ECHR rulings,” let’s return to 2020.

Former Parliament Speaker Bülent Arınç, who was a member of the Presidential High Advisory Board, spoke about Demirtaş in a television program:

“Detention should not turn into punishment. We had 1-2 meetings with Demirtaş. There were riots and hunger strikes in prisons. There is a book called ‘Devran’ that he wrote to get to know or judge Selahattin Demirtaş. Please, take it and read it.”

How dare you say that?.. AKP members, pro-government writers, MHP members, and Bahçeli raised hell.

For example, Hilal Kaplan accused Arınç of “defending terrorists”...

Erdoğan said, “The recommendation for everyone to read a book written by one of these terrorists has offended me. He is a defender wearing a politician’s mask who has the blood of thousands of my Kurdish brothers, soldiers, and teachers on his hands.”...

MHP Deputy Chairman Feti Yıldız called on Arınç, saying, “Come out from behind the breastwork. Take your real place. Put on your robe and make your defenses.”...

Bahçeli roared as follows:

“It is a complete distortion, even stupidity, for a political has-been who is still a member of the Presidential High Advisory Board to praise Soros-supporter Osman Kavala and the terrorist Demirtaş... Is this not an immoral style, an unwise proposal? What kind of freedom? Freedom is not for those who roam the mountains with guns in their hands; the iron fist of the nation is what they deserve. Bülent Arınç approaches with affection whoever has set a trap for Turkey, whoever is an enemy of the People’s Alliance, and whoever wants to disrupt the environment of internal peace and tranquility... Demirtaş is a terrorist, the book named Devran is terrorist propaganda. In our view, whoever claims otherwise is a separatist, a terrorist-lover, and a ringleader of sedition.”

In the end, Arınç was forced to resign from his membership in the Presidential High Advisory Board.

THE MEETING WITH DEMİRTAŞ AND OUR NATIONAL HONOR

Let us recall some other statements by Bahçeli regarding Selahattin Demirtaş.

While reacting to the then-CHP Chairman Kılıçdaroğlu meeting with the family of “terrorist Demirtaş,” he asked, “Will you also meet with the family of the monster of İmralı?.. He stated that when they come to power, they will release the terrorist Demirtaş and the Soros-supporter Osman Kavala. I ask you, will you also release the monster Öcalan?” and claimed that Kılıçdaroğlu had “lost his marbles.”

Just 8 months ago, he said that “it is out of the question for those who join the visitor queue with the terrorist Demirtaş to talk about nationalism or maintaining our national honor.”

BAHÇELİ IS GOING TO DANCE THE ''PEACE HALAY''

Let’s come to Sırrı Süreyya Önder.

Önder, who in the past defined the terrorist leader as the “leader of the people” and said, “Will they negotiate with Bahçeli? Of course, Öcalan will be taken as an interlocutor,” and who, at the reception given by Erdoğan at the Çankaya Mansion in 2014, replied to Emine Erdoğan’s question, “Where are you from?” by saying, “I am from Adıyaman. Excuse me, I am a Turk, I am undergoing treatment,” announced another meeting he had with Bahçeli months ago during a television program he attended the night before.

Stating that Bahçeli called him after calling for the terrorist leader to come to Parliament, Önder explained the following:

“He asked about my health, and I asked about his health. I said, 'Let us see peace, then may God take His trust.' He said, 'Would that be, sir; we are still going to dance the peace halay, do not think such things.' I said, 'You have nailed the nail to the highest heaven, our height is not yet enough to evaluate it.'”

He also noted the following in continuation:

“Mr. Bahçeli had said, ‘Let him come and speak in Parliament.’ He is not a person of a character to retreat from what he said. He always stood behind it. Mr. Öcalan said, ‘They are pressuring him too much, let us not make his job difficult, I will not come to Parliament, you are there, I will speak from here.’”

In short; after so much conversation with DEM members who only act as messengers, would we be surprised if one day it is announced that Bahçeli also met with the terrorist leader in İmralı, who has been made the sole “hope” of the process?!

Müyesser YILDIZ

March 5, 2025