Devlet Bahçeli clarifies remarks on Alevi and Kurdish Vice Presidents: 'Against impositions'

Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Chairman Devlet Bahçeli has issued a written statement.

Bahçeli stated the following in his declaration:

"The Nationalist Movement Party has permanent and deep-rooted proposals for every problem that directly or indirectly occupies our country, thanks to its strong intellectual accumulation and effective political struggle; moreover, this is what is natural and correct.

Turkish nationalism is the guarantee of the independence of the noble and cherished Turkish nation, and the guarantee of the existence of its historical personality and national identity.

It is a political stance known to everyone, and even solidified in the collective conscience, that the Nationalist Movement Party is unconditionally against all forms of discrimination, separatism, and ethnic or sectarian-based division.

In this context, we have no curiosity or search to hear, listen to, learn from, or take lessons from anyone.

During the closed-door Joint Meeting of the Central Executive Board and the Central Disciplinary Board held on July 18, 2025, I made evaluations regarding hot topics concerning Turkey.

Among these, a significant place was naturally given to the stages of the 'Terror-Free Turkey' goal and the gratifying developments achieved within this framework.

However, the entirety of our 102-year Republican history has been marked by the harassment, destruction, and provocations of ethnic and sectarian-based separatism.

"THEIR ASPIRATIONS WILL ALSO BE THWARTED"

No sane and conscientious person can deny this jarring reality.

In the new century, with the manifestation of a 'Terror-Free Turkey,' the aspirations of those who dream of ethnic and sectarian-based division will be thwarted.

It is possible and certain that national unity and brotherhood will be consolidated through the political and legal opportunities of the Presidential Government System and the theoretical and institutional principles it encompasses.

The schematic formula for this has been poured into a political and legal thought pattern in the format of an equilateral triangle.

Indeed, on the occasion of the reforestation campaign on November 11, 2024, and inspired by the trees planted in front of our party in accordance with our Turkish state tradition; the fir tree was symbolized as the executive, the blue spruce as the legislative, and the cedar tree as the independent judiciary.

In addition to this, it was brought to the agenda as a political proposition that there could be a President at the very top, and a Vice President at the two corners below.

Against ethnic and sectarian-based impositions that tire our Turkey, wear it down, steal its energy, and cause exorbitant social and economic costs, it was evaluated that one of the two Vice Presidents could be Alevi and the other Kurdish during a period when a 'Terror-Free Turkey' is advancing step by step.

"ASSOCIATING THIS INTELLECTUAL AND POLITICAL PROPOSAL WITH LEBANON IS A DELIBERATE DISTORTION"

Associating this intellectual and political proposal with Lebanon is, first of all, a distortion and a deliberate misrepresentation of a sincere thought.

There is no one who has the power, courage, or intent to turn Turkey into the complex and chaotic unstable structure of Lebanon or any other similar country.

The effort of bohemian and depressed politicians, who long for Beirut nights, to smear and terrorize a proposal shared based on history and culture is a pathetic opportunism.

The Republican People's Party has used our Alevi brothers as political material for decades, and games have been played over our Kurdish brothers.

Despite many suggestions and slanders, thank God, neither Alevis nor Kurds have fallen into the traps planned with hostility.

There is no one standing in front of anyone, and there is no one creating obstacles. Furthermore, whether Alevi or Kurdish, it is unthinkable that anyone would emerge to ignore the democratic and national will once any presidential candidate passes the 50 percent vote threshold, or to open the resulting legitimacy to debate.

The Republic of Turkey is a state of law. The rule of law, not the rule of the superior, is dominant and prevalent.

Regardless of their origin, sect, region, or mother tongue, everyone who is bound to the Republic of Turkey by citizenship is equal before the law.

At the same time, they are honorable members of the Turkish nation. No one has any difference that includes privilege or prerogative over anyone else.

However, it is morally and historically harmful to pull a clarification of thought into different places with the aim of completely removing ethnic and sectarian-based separatism from the agenda alongside the 'Terror-Free Turkey' goal.

It is a shameful impudence and indecency for those who rub their hands to obscure the blessed future of Turkey and the Turkish nation, and for circles with poisonous roots and character, to enter into a nationalism race with us.

We do not look at what the puppets, who hide in the darkness of their comfortable corners and throw stones at the light, are saying; we focus on what our nation says and what history will say.

It is out of the question for us to take even a millimeter of a step back from our view.

The leaking of my words from the closed-door meeting to a certain so-called journalist, and that gossip brand of a journalist who acts as a tightrope walker on every wire bringing it to the agenda, is meaningful in terms of timing. And it is among our notes.

"WE ARE ONE, WE ARE TOGETHER, WE ARE BROTHERS, WE ARE A VERY LARGE FAMILY"

The Nationalist Movement Party is ready to face every attack. The Nationalist Movement Party and the People's Alliance will not allow Turkey to be exposed to an ethnic and sectarian-based earthquake.

The Alevi is ours, and the Kurd is ours. The mosque is ours, and the Cemevi is ours. We are all together the Turkish nation. We are one, we are together, we are brothers, we are a very large family.

If everyone is us, and we are brothers, it is a requirement of our national honor to act honestly and responsibly.

Puppet-like troublemakers, those who muddy the waters, those who act as extras for commissioned scenarios, and those who thus encourage Turkish-Kurdish, Alevi-Sunni, secular-anti-secular, believer-non-believer polarization are rotten individuals who are not even worthy of being stepchildren of this magnificent family."