I Guess You Didn't Hear; They Asked for 'Autonomy'...

The only promise made by MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli, who initiated the second opening process, for the PKK to lay down its arms was to allow the terrorist leader in İmralı to benefit from the "right to hope." Yet, it seems the İmralı-PKK-DEM trio is making demand after demand like a victorious commander.

During the first opening process, Bahçeli, who was in opposition at the time, had said the following:

"In the short-term first phase of the path of destruction, conceptualized for the purpose of destroying Turkey and dividing the Turkish nation, the psychological infrastructure for the implementation of PKK demands will be prepared, and administrative and legal regulations that will serve as a bridge in this regard will be implemented. Administrative steps for initiatives aimed at obstructing the concept of 'Turk' and improving the prison conditions of the İmralı monster will be on the agenda in this first phase. In the medium-term second phase, regulations requiring legislative changes will be made, and the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TBMM) will be attempted to be made a partner in this betrayal. In the third and final phase, constitutional amendments will be brought to the agenda, and if possible, the unitary structure will be broken and division will be ensured... The preparation of the ground for a federation through the increase of the powers of local administrations, accompanied by the changing of the Turkish national identity, the transformation of a second language from an elective course into a language of instruction, and the acceptance of the European Charter of Local Self-Government, will be met in installments."

Today, nothing is missing; these exact things are happening in full.

But as the old Bahçeli said, because "the lies that the İmralı monster has no demand for a separate state and has abandoned democratic autonomy are being served to the public as part of an ongoing psychological operation," and because "peace words are being used like bullets, democratization words like chemical weapons, and freedom slogans like a deadly and epidemic virus," nothing is heard except the slogan of a "Turkey without terror"!..

Those who open their mouths emphasize that there is no problem with the first four articles of the Constitution, but they remain silent when it comes to the preamble principles of the Constitution, the mother tongue, and Articles 42 and 66 regarding the concept of the Turkish Nation, which would hollow out these articles. But pro-government writers have started to spill the beans.

One declared that the phrase "Atatürk nationalism" in the preamble of the Constitution is "wrong and superfluous," and that the sentence "Everyone who is bound to the Turkish State by the bond of citizenship is a Turk" is "hurtful"...

Another argued that "the Constitution excludes and marginalizes the majority of society from its very first sentences" and that "the nation does not deserve this text..."

Moving past these; for the first time after a very long interval, Bahçeli, whose voice was heard on May 27, said "a new national identity" in the text on the MHP website, even though it read "a new national unity"...

Moreover, while he had opposed making the TBMM the address for the solution of the "Kurdish issue" just 3.5 years ago with the words, "It is an appetite and passion to stain the national will with traitorous separatists... It is oppression, it is humiliation, it is hostility toward Turkey," he personally proposed the establishment of a commission in the TBMM for a "Turkey without terror"...

What more could there be?!

FROM 2013 TO 2025

While it is claimed that this is different from the first opening and that the PKK-DEM has not set any conditions, 6 days ago, DEM published the declaration of its "Democratic Local Governments Main Term Meeting."

In the declaration, it was stated that the terrorist leader's "democratic nation paradigm is the guarantee of the equal, free, and co-existence of Turkey's multi-identity, multi-lingual, and multi-faith social structure," and it was requested that "the reservations placed on the European Charter of Local Self-Government be lifted."

The terrorist leader brought this charter to the agenda during the first "solution process" as it actually happened. The AKP included the promise to lift those reservations in its election manifesto. The President of the time, Abdullah Gül, made the following statement:

"We had reservations on one or two points in the Charter. They officially remain, but we have proven in our practices that there is no harm in them. When we lift these reservations, it is a regulation that grants more opportunities and powers to those in İzmir, Diyarbakır, and Kayseri... I believe the European Charter of Local Self-Government will resolve many complaints. Beyond that is autonomy."

In the final declaration of the "Northern Kurdistan unity and solution conference" held in Diyarbakır in 2013, again under the instruction of the terrorist leader, the following order was included:

"It is a principle agreed upon at our conference that the peoples of Kurdistan have the right to determine their status (such as autonomy-federation-independence) by their own choice, and that the right of the peoples of Kurdistan to self-determination is left only to the decision and approval of the people of Kurdistan. Our conference has decided that the Kurdish issue cannot be finally resolved without Kurdistan having a status."

The full name of this agreement, which has been brought back to the agenda 15 years later, is the European Charter of Local Self-Government. Turkey did not just place 1 reservation on it. It was signed with reservations on exactly 7 articles and 10 paragraphs.

The reason, in summary, is the granting of broad "discretionary power" to local administrations, especially regarding financial resources and grants... Giving local administrations the opportunity to become members of certain international organizations... The right to "apply to the judiciary to ensure compliance with the principles of autonomous administration"...

Likewise, in its second article, it is envisaged that "the principle of autonomous local government shall be recognized by national legislation and, where appropriate, by the constitution."

I suppose we will see that this will also be among the calculations for the new constitution!..

'AS YOU CAN UNDERSTAND, THE DISHONOR IS KNEE-DEEP'

We mentioned that when Bahçeli was in opposition, he said, "The preparation of the ground for a federation through the increase of the powers of local administrations, accompanied by the acceptance of the European Charter of Local Self-Government, will be met in installments."

Let us also recall his other words. On February 18, 2014, he said exactly the following:

"The dose of betrayal has increased so much, and its control has been lost to such an extent, that even a promise of autonomy for local administrations has found a place in the election manifesto prepared by the AKP. It has been reflected in the media that the AKP government will completely lift Turkey's reservations and the annotations it placed on the European Charter of Local Self-Government. As you can understand, the dishonor is knee-deep. All thresholds in disgrace have been crossed. Enemies of the homeland, the flag, and the nation have formed an alliance... I draw everyone's attention to the fact that the autonomous administration uprising to be started from the local level will cause us to lose our homeland and will deprive us of our nation."

He did not just attack the AKP. Exactly 2 years ago, at a rally he held in Etimesgut one day before the second round of the Presidential elections, he said: "Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, who defends the European Charter of Local Self-Government and is the candidate of terrorist organizations, must definitely lose tomorrow."

Now, there is no one who hears or reacts to DEM's declaration that "the reservations placed on the European Charter of Local Self-Government should be lifted"!..

BAHÇELİ'S CENGİZ ÇANDAR PROPOSAL

As is known, the establishment of a principality for the terrorist leader in İmralı is on the agenda.

During the last Eid al-Fitr, his nephew, DEM MP Ömer Öcalan, while talking about the "provision of working conditions" for the terrorist leader, announced that he had requested to meet with experienced and elderly journalists such as Hasan Cemal and Cengiz Çandar.

Since Cengiz Çandar was designated as the candidate for Deputy Speaker of the TBMM last week in place of Sırrı Süreyya Önder; it would not be right not to recall Bahçeli's views on these issues during the first opening process on this occasion.

For example, he gave the following advice and proposal to the Prime Minister of the time, Erdoğan:

"Participate together with the terrorist leader on the island of İmralı on a television channel you deem appropriate, with the moderation of Cengiz Çandar, whose work and whose agency he runs are more or less known to us. Share with our noble nation in a transparent and direct way what you understand by the problem and how you define terror. If you reach a consensus on the diagnosis of the problem, then jointly explain what you expect from the solution and what you mean by the solution. Is what you plan as a solution first autonomy, then federation? Or do you call independent Kurdistan the solution? Is the division of the Turkish nation into ethnic identities and the splitting of the homeland in two a part of the solution according to you?"

When a television was given to the İmralı monster as a "New Year's gift and consolation prize," he also said:

"Following this, the allocation of a computer written off from the inventory to the terrorist leader so that he can communicate with his old partners in crime via Facebook, Twitter, or Skype, and subsequently starting to chat with the Prime Minister at night, should not be seen as a miracle or something that will not happen. After all, everything is between Prime Minister Erdoğan's two lips."

What "miracles" have been experienced in these 8 months... Will these happen too? They will!..

Müyesser YILDIZ

June 2, 2025