What Shall We Do About Those License Plates?!

Devlet Bahçeli, the leader of the MHP, a partner in the People's Alliance (Cumhur İttifakı), emphasized during the parliamentary group meeting on June 25 that one of his sources of inspiration was Atatürk's cry: "If God wills and my life permits, I will take back Mosul, Kirkuk, and the islands. I will include Western Thrace, including Thessaloniki, within the borders of Turkey."

Whether it is because Atatürk said these things or not, it is unknown; the AKP government turned a blind eye to Greece's encroachment on our islands and, with its support for the US invasion of Iraq, paved the way for the occupation of Mosul and Kirkuk as well.

Yes, our topic is once again Kirkuk, about which even Erdoğan said, "It is a Turkmen city. The Kurds are in the position of occupiers," and for which Bahçeli had assigned the license plate number "82" seven years ago...

The developments that Ankara, along with its media, has practically ignored are well-known.

The PUK (Patriotic Union of Kurdistan), the party of Talabani which has taken over the sponsorship of the PKK, took three Arab and one Christian member with them on Sunday and elected PUK member Rebvar Taha as the governor of Kirkuk at a hotel in Baghdad!..

On the same day, an unnamed "Foreign Ministry official" spoke and stated that they would "closely follow the developments."

We thought that more would follow; that Erdoğan and Bahçeli would roar, and that other officials and their media would follow them, leaving no words unsaid!..

Shutters Down in Ankara

The next day, the AKP had its Central Executive Board (MYK) meeting. After the meeting, Spokesperson Ömer Çelik spoke at length about Gaza and the anniversary of the AKP's founding.

As for the issue of Kirkuk, only upon a journalist's question did he touch upon "an inclusive policy where no one is excluded; that the rights of Arab groups, the KDP, and the Turkmens must be delivered," and explained the following:

"This is not a healthy and acceptable situation. We evaluate that steps must be taken rapidly to return to a completely inclusive framework. Otherwise, one will face other different problems. Models that include all Iraqis can only work, function, and serve Iraq. Steps taken by factions outside of this, by creating de facto areas and certain pieces, will definitely lead to wrong results. We do not find this correct from this perspective."

It is not a "healthy, acceptable situation," and they "do not find it correct"... Pay attention; they do not even use the cliché phrase, "It is null and void for us."

They "think that steps must be taken rapidly to return to an inclusive framework"... Whoever is supposed to take or make those rapid steps?!

Five days have passed since the fait accompli in Kirkuk; this was the only voice that came out of the AKP.

Let's look at the MHP.

On the same day as Ömer Çelik, MHP Deputy Chairman and member of the Turkish Grand National Assembly Foreign Affairs Committee, İsmail Özdemir, made an 11-paragraph post on his social media account. The first three paragraphs were related to "Caniyahu and Israel's massacres" and the support the US provides to both Israel and the PKK/PYD terrorist organization in Syria. Finally, in the fourth paragraph, he noted the following regarding Kirkuk:

"The games played to usurp the rights and laws of our Turkmen brothers in Kirkuk are in vain. The Turkmen presence is the guarantee of Iraq's future. In a climate where Turkmens do not find peace, the stability of Iraq and the region cannot be mentioned. Kirkuk is a Turkish homeland and will remain a Turkish homeland until eternity. The global dark mind that occupied Iraq and then ignored the Turkmen presence will not reach its goal."

Following Kirkuk, Özdemir touched upon the "Jerusalem cause" and the Russia-Ukraine war, praising the initiatives Turkey has taken to overcome regional and global crises, saying, "Thank God, we are successful in this too... Turkey will continue to leave its mark on the world."

Bahçeli Giving a New Name to Fulya

A hot development took place on the MHP front yesterday.

CNN Türk Special News Chief Fulya Öztürk announced that MHP Leader Bahçeli called her to congratulate her on her report regarding our soldiers in the Metina-Zap region in northern Iraq, and in the meantime, said, "From now on, your name is Fulya Asena Öztürk."

Oh Fulya; I wish you had mentioned the name of Kirkuk in that report, perhaps Mr. Bahçeli would have said something about this issue as well!..

CHP: "The So-Called Elections Should Be Considered Invalid"

No, we have not forgotten Atatürk's party, the CHP. As far as we can follow, Chairman Özgür Özel has not mentioned the name of Kirkuk so far.

As is known; before the sack incident, Kirkuk was a "red line" for the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK). For this reason, we asked the issue to retired Rear Admiral Yankı Bağcıoğlu, the CHP Deputy Chairman responsible for National Defense Policies. The assessments and warnings Bağcıoğlu made regarding national security were as follows:

"Simultaneously with the elections in question, PUK Chairman Bafel Talabani met with Ferhat Şahin, codenamed Mazlum Abdi, the so-called leader of the terrorist organization PYD; the political wing of the terrorist organization in northern Iraq, as if challenging Turkey, dismissed Turkmens from the Kirkuk administration, ignored the Turkmen population, and weakened the connection between the Kirkuk region and Turkey. This negative development may also negatively affect the commercial activities of Turkish firms that have investments in the region. This situation may also prevent the effects of the successful operational activities of the TSK, which has reduced the effectiveness of the PKK to a marginal level by conducting effective operations in the region, from reflecting on the social sphere. By creating a situation in Syria and Iraq where the terrorist organization can act more daringly against Turkey's security, it may make our military presence in northern Iraq even more questionable by certain groups. The so-called elections held in Kirkuk, which ignore the Turkmen population, should be considered invalid. With these so-called elections, the administration of Kirkuk is unfortunately intended to be given to a structure sympathetic to the terrorist organization."

What the AKP Said Happened, Steps Were Taken "Rapidly"!..

What happened when our administrators, who are obliged to observe the rights and interests of Turkey and the Turkmens, approached the new game staged in Kirkuk so moderately?

What AKP's Ömer Çelik said happened, and Iraqi President Latif Rashid published the appointment decree of Rebvar Taha, who was elected as the so-called governor of Kirkuk the previous day, and gave him his mandate!..

Yesterday, while the AKP was celebrating its founding anniversary, the so-called governor took an oath in the Kirkuk Court and, after starting his duty, went to the Kirkuk Governorate building under heavy security measures and sat in his chair!..

Meanwhile, it emerged that Kirkuk had already been divided; the Kurds took the management of oil, education, and military intelligence, and the police department was given to the Arabs.

You Could Have At Least Cancelled the "Critical Meeting"

We have moved past the politicians; what should be said about the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which represents the state and is now claimed to direct the world, not making a single line of official statement regarding Kirkuk for five days?

Not only did it not do so, but it announced yesterday that a high-level delegation headed by Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein would pay an official visit to our country and that the "Turkey-Iraq Joint Planning Group" and "High-Level Security Mechanism" meetings would be held today with the delegation in question.

Our media also announced this good news (!) with the headline "Critical meeting with Iraq."

It seems they did not even think about cancelling this meeting for a so-called reaction to the fait accompli in Kirkuk carried out with the cooperation of the Iraqi central administration and the PUK!..

Let us end with the words of Ali Mehdi, Advisor to the Iraqi Turkmen Front President:

"Kirkuk has lost, instability and bad days await us."

We understand why American soldiers were deployed to Kirkuk shortly before the governorship fait accompli, don't we?!