Former İYİ lawmaker criticizes Bahçeli’s call to Öcalan at launch of new party

Yavuz Ağıralioğlu, a former nationalist opposition İYİ (Good) Party lawmaker, has slammed far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli for his recent call to imprisoned Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan at the launch of his new party, Voice of America (VOA) Turkish edition reported on Monday.

Öcalan is the leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies.

Ağıralioğlu, who resigned from the İYİ Party after the local elections on March 31, on Monday launched his Anahtar (Key) Party, referred to as the “A Party,” which he said would follow a nationalist-conservative line.

The party, currently the 157th active political party in Turkey, has a founding committee of 162 members, including former İYİ Party MP Ayhan Erel, former ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) deputy Halil Özşavlı and former AKP lawmaker Fuat Geçen, in addition to Ağıralioğlu.

During a speech at Monday’s event, Ağıralioğlu criticized Bahçeli, a key ally of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, for his call on Öcalan last week to urge his outlawed PKK to lay down its arms, hinting at the possibility of his release from prison.

 The MHP leader said that if Öcalan’s “isolation” were lifted, he could appear at the party group meeting of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) and declare the dissolution of the PKK, signalling an end to decades of violence.

The “isolation” of Öcalan, who has been jailed in a high-security prison on İmralı Island in the Sea of Marmara since 1999, refers to his inability to speak with his lawyers for years.

Bahçeli also suggested that if Öcalan takes this step, there could be legislative action to pave the way for his possible release.

Referring to his proposal, Ağıralioğlu said: “No one can invite the murderer of our children into parliament. … We will not allow even the sympathizers, let alone the leader, of this vile organization … to enter parliament.”

Ağıralioğlu added that the proposal makes it sound as if Turkey has failed in the fight against terrorism, lacks the power to end it on its own and is somehow seeking help from the killer of its own children.

The PKK has been leading an armed insurgency since the 1980s that has claimed the lives of some 40,000 people in Turkey.