Support for Bahçeli from Ahmet Davutoğlu: From 'Serok Ahmet' to 'Serok Bahçeli'...

Politics continues to debate MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli's remarks regarding Imralı and Öcalan. Future Party Chairman Ahmet Davutoğlu evaluated Bahçeli's statements during his party's group meeting.

Ahmet Davutoğlu's statements are as follows:

'WE ARE NOT AN ORDINARY TRIBE'

'As a nation, we are not an ordinary tribe that has come together at random. As a state, we are not newborn either. We have experience. Those in the field of conjunctural politics gloss over problems. Their purpose in engaging in politics is not to solve the problem, but to survive by exploiting it.

HOW IT CAME TO 'SEROK BAHÇELİ'

Expressing his views on MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli's statements, Davutoğlu continued his remarks as follows:

'I have stated that I found Mr. Bahçeli's statements in previous weeks to be positive. I saw it as a glimmer of hope that a reasonable stance was put forward by Mr. Bahçeli regarding the Kurdish issue, which is one of the most important fault lines exploited by foreign powers in Turkey. And I waited for not only Bahçeli but also the President to address this issue with a systematic statement, so that we could see a state of mind before us. Mr. Bahçeli added a new dimension to this with his statement yesterday. Unfortunately, the President did not draw a comprehensive framework beyond supporting these statements. Throughout the night, a fierce social media storm erupted over Mr. Bahçeli's statements. I will not ask the questions that were asked to Mr. Bahçeli on social media again. I will not ask how you got to where you are today from the time you threw a noose at the President, saying 'hang the terrorist leader.'

'CLAIMING WE COLLABORATED WITH TERROR'

'I will not ask why you are now addressing the DEM Party and offering to talk after having said 'the HDP is the seventh leg of the Table of Six.' I will not ask why you are making a statement that highlights the DEM group today after having said 'the DEM Party should be closed.' I will not ask why you wanted to make the streets narrow for us by claiming that we 'collaborated with terror.'

I will not ask how it came to the point of 'Serok Bahçeli' today after you used the term 'Serok Ahmet' to belittle me and the Kurdish language. If you truly want to take a step regarding the Kurdish issue, which we define as a problem that must be solved within our party's program and for which we point to full democracy as the solution, then explain this within an action plan. The first test for Mr. Bahçeli and Mr. Erdoğan is sincerity. We support every move, policy, and initiative that will lead these fault lines to a solution. But we are also against anyone who wants to use this tactically. Our call to Mr. Bahçeli is this: clearly present an action plan that protects the rights of our martyr mothers and all the martyrs we have lost, and which also includes the disarmament of the terrorist organization that has consumed a generation in the mountains, so that it does not lead to the loss of our Turkish and Kurdish youth again, and let us see it. Otherwise, it is not possible to claim that this issue can be solved through a method based on one person speaking in Parliament.'