Striking statement from CHP official amid 'normalization' debates: 'MHP's reason for existence will disappear'

Republican People's Party (CHP) Deputy Chairman responsible for the Ministry of Interior, Murat Bakan, made statements regarding the current agenda.

Speaking to VOA Turkish, Bakan said that they would both negotiate and struggle with the AKP government.

Rejecting comments that the 'normalization' process in politics would benefit AKP Chairman and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Bakan said, “Our political intelligence is greater than theirs.”

Noting that they are inviting the government to the rule of law and democratization, Bakan said, “If they take a step here, how happy we would be to have produced a solution together; if they do not, we continue to oppose them very strongly. There is no decrease in our motivation for opposition. But if there is a problem that you can solve through communication, solving it is ultimately beneficial to the public. People expect us to produce solutions. So there are two things: we will continue both to struggle and to negotiate,” he said.

"OUR POLITICAL INTELLIGENCE IS GREATER"

Bakan stated that CHP voters should allow the new party management to formulate a strategy, and continued his words as follows:

“One should not fall into such a fallacy. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is setting up a game, and normalization will benefit him. Because he suffered an election defeat and this is part of the game. There is no such thing. Our political intelligence is greater than theirs. We think, we consider the consequences, and every move we make, everything we do, is the right move. We are also measuring its results. We are both proceeding by measuring and looking at the effect we have created on the other side; look at the situation the People's Alliance is in today, if it weren't for these steps of ours, that toxic relationship there would have continued, it may still continue, but there will never be a return to the old ways.”

"WE WILL NOT BE PARTNERS WITH THE AKP"

Underlining that they are not partners of the government and do not intend to be complicit in the crimes committed by the government, Bakan said, “Our goal is for us to be in power. If we are talking about a true normalization in Turkey, it will happen under a Republican People's Party government. In other words, if by normalization it is meant that the government will return to the constitutional order and build a democratic state of law, and that the judiciary will be independent, there is no such thing. This will happen when we come to power. We are not dreaming of achieving anything by being partners with the AKP,” he said.

'WITH NORMALIZATION, MHP'S REASONS FOR EXISTENCE WILL DISAPPEAR'

Regarding the reactions from the MHP to the "normalization" process, Bakan said, “Being able to benefit from the blessings of power, and the fact that MHP-affiliated names can be protected in the judiciary, in the police, in the gendarmerie, and in certain places is enough for them,” and argued that there is a symbiotic (mutual benefit and dependence resulting from the two parties living together or working together) relationship between the MHP and the AKP.

Bakan said, “If this relationship breaks, that is, if a normalization occurs and laws are brought to parliament through mutual consultation and consensus as they should be in a democratic country, the MHP's reason for existence will disappear,” he said. Bakan also claimed that the relationship with the MHP is harming the AKP as well.

News Source: 12punto