MHP: From 'Committees of Advice' to 'Terror-Free Türkiye' delegations!..

MHP Leader Devlet Bahçeli, in this week's Parliamentary Group Meeting, after stating, “Our name is clear, we are the Turkish nation. Our state is clear, we are the Republic of Türkiye,” brought the subject to the opening process he is spearheading, saying that a “Terror-free Türkiye is the eternal guarantee of our national existence.”

With whom are they trying to realize this opening, or—as if there were enmity—“Turkish-Kurdish brotherhood”? With the terrorist leader in İmralı, the PKK, and the DEM Party.

What this trio wants is clear; they list it every single day. The disappearance of the nation-state; a multi-identity, multi-lingual structure, democratic confederalism...

Yet, while Bahçeli was demanding that the PKK lay down its arms unconditionally, he had promised only the “right to hope” to the terrorist leader in return.

But as can be seen, the process is proceeding with a “one step from you, one step from me” bargain.

The eagerly awaited next step is this: A group from the PKK is supposedly going to lay down arms as a “gesture of goodwill” and symbolically. Just like the Habur disgrace!..

They have mobilized on all fronts to convince the nation of such an obscure opening. They do not explain what they are talking about; however, DEM members are meeting with Turkmens and visiting TOBB and TESK, which were among the “wise people” of the first opening process.

In addition to the commission to be established in Parliament, Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş, who is leading the new constitution efforts, is also meeting with TOBB and MÜSİAD delegations.

However, their “solution” partners, the DEM Party, are not even in agreement on the name “Terror-free Türkiye.” Look at Group Deputy Chairman Sezai Temelli, who openly says, “There is something like this from the government: Terror-free Türkiye. We said we would not accept such a thing. We can agree on a name other than that. But we do not want the concepts of the past and approaches that are the product of a constantly criminal mind.”

What is interesting is that the MHP has also rolled up its sleeves to convince the nation. Deputy Chairman Semih Yalçın announced recently that, in line with Bahçeli's instructions, they will organize meetings covering 81 provinces in 9 regions starting from August 9 under the theme “National Unity and Solidarity Meetings for a Terror-Free Türkiye - Century-Old Unity, Eternal Brotherhood.” Because, “the goal of a terror-free Türkiye will be realized with all members of society embracing this process and with state-nation solidarity.”

IS THE TURKISH NATION ON THE WRONG PATH?

The reason for the intrigue?

As is known, during the first opening process, 63 “wise people” were mobilized in groups of 9 across 7 regions to convince the nation. Naturally, this brought to mind the “Committees of Advice” (Heyet-i Nasihalar) established in 1919 to make the nation accept the occupation.

The AKP Deputy Chairman of that period, Hüseyin Çelik, reacted to this comparison by calling it “the very definition of insolence,” and Erdoğan said, “Kılıçdaroğlu and Bahçeli have neither the background, nor the capacity, nor the caliber to speak about the wise people committee.”

Indeed, shouldn't we remember what Bahçeli, who now plans to hold regional meetings to convince the nation of the process, said back then when he organized open-air meetings in 9 regions under the theme “Homeland” titled “Protect and Sustain National Values” to explain the “solution betrayal that is trying to drag Türkiye into a process of division and fragmentation”?

Bahçeli's struggle in 2013 was compiled into a book titled “Thousand-Year Brotherhood and the Will to Live Together,” which still remains on the MHP website. Here are some excerpts from that 377-page book, for which Bahçeli also wrote the foreword:

- “Prime Minister Erdoğan has begun to ungratefully use all mechanisms, all intermediaries, and all paths to convince our nation of the theses of the PKK and the İmralı monster. The establishment of a commission in the TBMM regarding the so-called solution process has also been put on the agenda. The AKP is practically struggling to make the Grand National Assembly a counterpart to the PKK and is distorting everything. The Turkish nation has been faced with the AKP's psychological warfare and the cunningness with which it manages perceptions. For this reason, the so-called ‘Wise People Committee,’ which the İmralı monster and the PKK have long imposed and forced to be implemented, was formed with 63 people and set into motion... Since Prime Minister Erdoğan claims that there is 60 percent support for the so-called solution process, then why and for what reason did he feel the need to gather and assign 63 people from various professional groups? By what right has Prime Minister Erdoğan... dared to convince the Turkish nation of division and the treacherous demands of separatist terrorism, and with what authority has he decided to carry the PKK to every corner of Anatolia?.. If the Prime Minister is hopeful, if everything is going well, if honey-and-clotted-cream meetings are continuing with the İmralı monster and the terrorist organization, why are AKP deputies traveling in convoys, and what purpose does it serve for the 63-member group to be employed as PKK spokespeople with the taxes paid by the nation? Is the Prime Minister considering himself smart and the Turkish nation a fool?”

- “The 63-member group, included as officials in the betrayal process, have begun persuasion tours and psychological warfare in different regions of our country and in our various provinces to make separatism accepted... Just as Damat Ferit's committee of advice was defeated, they too will be defeated in exactly the same way and, reaching the point of swallowing their tongues in fear, they will find their way to their bosses who promised them benefits.”

- “The Prime Minister's labeling of nationalists-patriots as looters, because he is bothered by the fact that the 63-member group, which tries to impose the PKK's theses and propaganda on our noble nation, encounters the reaction of the national will everywhere they go, will also yield no results... I am proud of our veteran waving his prosthetic leg, our martyrs' relatives who silenced the 63 fools with their democratic objections, and all the nationalist-patriots who embrace the Turkish nation with flags in their hands.”

- “Peace has been mentioned, but it could not be confessed with whom they fought to reach the peace stage. A solution has been mentioned, but what is being solved, how it is being solved, and by what means the solution will be achieved has never been explained... You, the loud-mouthed AKP that says ‘We are not giving even a seed to the PKK,’ do you see everyone as a fool like yourself?”

- “Thanks to the AKP, the Republic of Türkiye has been reduced to a country that accepts and treats as a counterpart both the KCK, which is the PKK's alternative state structure, and its armed elements. While the PKK's Karayılan was talking about a new Türkiye and a new Middle East, the AKP remained silent, busy covering up the scandals and bullet-like words with the noise of withdrawal. Furthermore, the terrorist organization sees itself as having the right and authority to design the Middle East, alongside states that have Kurds within their borders. I would like to state once again that the bloody terrorist organization PKK and the traitor lying in İmralı are in no way the representatives of my Kurdish-origin brothers.”

- “The 63 people whose minds have been eaten, whom Prime Minister Erdoğan uses as tongs and has sent to the fertile bosom of Anatolia with promises, have been active for over a month. The Prime Minister has now compared them to the ‘Committees of Guidance’ (İrşad Heyeti) formed during the years of the national struggle and has sunk into a mind-boggling ignorance. Let alone seeing the 63-member group as a Committee of Guidance, establishing similarities or parallels between these two is not anyone's business. If he means another meaning of the word 'irşat' (guidance), which ends in 't' and means 'ugly and sour-faced,' then we have nothing to say. Know that the 63-member group has held the PKK's hand, become the guide for separatist goals, and preached division; the Committee of Guidance, on the other hand, entered hearts with a high morality that would defend the unity and independence of the Turkish nation and deserved respect. The 63-member group showed their side by saying 'don't call the Öcalan monster a baby killer'; the Committee of Guidance enlightened our nation about the rebellion and occupation in Anatolia, called for a national struggle, and stood by nationalism. It must be asked, who were these 63 people tasked with guiding, that is, bringing to the right path, according to the Prime Minister? Is the Turkish nation on the wrong path that some are tasked with guiding it? Is the Turkish nation a dry crowd that needs to be disciplined and brought into line that it is being guided?.. If these are a committee of guidance according to the Prime Minister, who is the guide (mürşid), and who does it consist of? In the face of this situation, where does the Prime Minister see himself?.. Be sure that there is absolutely no difference between the religious merchants who issued fatwas against the heroes of the national struggle and the BOP (Greater Middle East Project) supporters and the 63-member group who are trying to break the national spirit... Mr. Prime Minister, if there is anyone you must compare the 63-member group to, it will be none other than the convicted traitors who went down in our national history as the '150s' (Yüzellilikler), and it should not be otherwise.”

- “I have tasked our Party Secretary General and Bursa deputy, Mr. İsmet Büyükataman, to file a criminal complaint with the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office against the Prime Minister and some government members who have committed constitutional crimes, as well as the 63 so-called wise people committee, along with public officials who carry out orders that constitute a crime, and who protect and harbor criminals. If not today, when will justice take action? If not now, when will prosecutors protect the rights and interests of the Turkish nation?”

- “If Prime Minister Erdoğan has given a blank check to the PKK and the İmralı monster regarding the so-called northern Kurdistan, if he has opened space for the PKK and political separatists by keeping the Turkish nation busy, if he has presented promises one after another that will cause the ruin of Türkiye and the Turkish nation, I would be a dishonorable person if I did not grab him by the collar, not just in this world, but even in the hereafter. Mr. Prime Minister, we were not joking when we said the Nationalist Movement has not yet said its last word. We did not speak just for the sake of talking when we said everything is not over yet. Be smart, otherwise the Turkish nation and Turkish nationalists will know very well how to take your mind off your head.”

To summarize;

MHP Leader Bahçeli, in last week's group meeting, recalled Ziya Gökalp's words, “History shows that success is always the reward of righteousness,” and said, “Thank God, our idea is right, our goals are right, our struggle is right, our side is right, our attitude is right, our style is right, our existence is rightfully and completely right.”

It is emphasized that Bahçeli is a “wise person” and a visionary who always puts into practice the proverb in Turkish politics: “Vision is seeing behind the mountain, wisdom is knowing what will come to pass”; the only question is:

Were the ideas, goals, struggles, attitudes, and styles of yesterday right, or those of today?!

Müyesser YILDIZ

June 4, 2025