Dink’s murder attempt to creating chaos – Turkish nationalist party leader

Anatolia News Agency, Turkey
Jan 24 2007

Ankara, 24 January: MHP [Nationalist Action Party] General Chairman
Devlet Bahceli said that convicting the state without evidence and
starting lynching campaigns to erode public confidence in the state
each time an incident occurs has become a very dangerous habit.

Speaking at a press conference at his party’s general headquarters,
Bahceli said that Turkey has been left defenceless against internal
and external provocations, that attempts are under way to make it
a problem-ridden country and nation, and that the assassination
of journalist Hrant Dink is one of the scenarios aimed at creating
political chaos.

Bahceli charged that in the current environment lies are mixed with
the truth, that a climate of psychological pressure built using
provocations and allegations that exceed the limits of reason or
propriety is used for political marketing, and that emotional and human
reactions are cruelly exploited to tarnish Turkey’s national values
and sensitivities. He added that the merchants of hate, malevolence,
and antagonism, who are intent on creating an environment of chaos
by destroying Turkey’s social nerve endings, have staged a parade
behind the guise of being democrats. Bahceli said that Turkey is
going through a very dangerous and dark period.

Stating that "the inhuman murder of a citizen of Armenian ancestry
has shaken Turkey deeply," Bahceli continued:

"The truth is that Turkey has to learn the necessary lessons from
both this cowardly murder and the climate of psychological terrorism
and provocation that has been built up in its aftermath.

"The circles that were waiting impatiently for an excuse to condemn
Turkey on the international arena have gained a new opportunity for
exploitation. The ploys that have been staged and given an initial
rehearsal in recent days have also brought to surface concrete signs
of the campaigns of provocation and hostility that will be aimed at
Turkey in the coming period. A mine-filled road full of risks lies
ahead for Turkey.

"The murder of the general publishing manager of Agos is, above all,
an abhorrent crime that everyone who has not lost his or her human
dignity must condemn. The revulsion this has generated in people’s
minds and hearts must naturally be seen as a human and ethical
reaction, provided that it remains within those bounds."

Bahceli noted that it is incumbent upon the government to find
out the political connections, if any, of this assassination,
those who instigated it, those who provided assistance and succor,
and their connections to any organizations and said that this is a
moral obligation.

Convicting state

Stating that non-Muslim minority Turkish citizens "who have tied
their destiny and future to the destiny and future of the Turkish
nation" are honourable members of Turkish society with equal rights
and responsibilities, Bahceli said that treating them as foreigners
simply because of their ethnic background and ostracizing them is
incompatible with the ethics with which Turkish nationalism views
the concept of homeland.

Bahceli said: "Those who conduct politics based on the exploitation
of minorities even as they denigrate the Turkish nation and its
sentiments of nationalism must understand these realities very well."

He continued:

"Convicting the state without evidence and starting lynching campaigns
to erode public confidence in the state each time an incident occurs
has become a very dangerous habit.

"This scenario was staged exactly this way in the latest incident.

Immediately after the attack, conspiracy theories that convict the
state without evidence were spread, and developments that generated
deep concerns in anyone with any sense of reason and decency
unfolded. Immediately after the murder, groups carrying mobile
target boards and black flags flooded the streets and identified the
perpetrator of the attack: They convicted the state with chants of
‘The murderer state will give a reckoning,’ and ‘Here is the state
and here is genocide.’

"Subsequently, courts of so-called intellectuals and thinkers were
formed on television screens and in newspaper columns with the
instigation of a group that wears these titles like a shaky label on
its lapel. On such grounds, a sweeping profile of guilt was painted
without any ethical restraints and steps were taken to execute the
a priori conviction verdict in newspaper columns and on television
screens."

Bahceli charged that the said individuals "believe it is their
natural right to assume the powers of police, prosecutors, judges,
and corrections officers." He added that these slogans associated
the Turkish judiciary, Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code – which
regulates the act of insulting the Turkish identity – and Turkish
nationalism "with a wretched trigger man and convicted them of being
the instigators behind this murder." Bahceli continued:

"Even more importantly, certain circles that are so degraded as to
use this incident for their political ends are engaged in a malicious
race with each other to paint a portrait of a contrite and guilty
Turkish nation.

"Strangely, the slogan under which they united throughout this
deliberate lynching and smear campaign was ‘We Are All Armenians.’
This slogan may be viewed as an expression of solidarity in an
emotional moment and at a personal level. However, everyone has to
decide in their own conscience what this means for circles who argue
that this slogan is a sign that Turkey is changing skin.

"Turkey has suffered tremendous anguish and lost numerous martyrs
in its battle against PKK terrorism since 1984. These circles never
appear as members of the Turkish nation in the funerals of martyrs or
their condolence registers. The slogans they have now developed on
the basis of the ethnic affiliation of the victim is an oddity that
requires explanation. Furthermore, it is these same circles who demand
political amnesty for the PKK terrorists who murder unscrupulously
members of our security forces and our innocent citizens. That is
another symptom of a disease that deserves particular attention."

Legitimate foundation for separatism

Bahceli charged that Turkish nationalism has recently been portrayed
as an objectionable idea and that activities to build a legitimate
foundation that will advance the cause of political separatism have
gained speed.

Bahceli said: "Multilingual municipal services that have been started
in municipalities run by a party that is the political centre
of ethnic separatism in the East and the Southeast, conferences
that promote the PKK’s politicization projects under the rubric
‘Turkey Seeking Its Peace,’ the TUSIAD [Turkish Industrialists’
and Businessmen’s Association] ‘democratization report’ that will
serve the objectives of political separatism, the provocative rally
that a PKK-steered party organized in Mersin earlier this week and
that turned into a show of force in favour of the PKK are the latest
examples of attempts create a legitimate foundation for this purpose.

"These provocations that are staged with the aim breaking up
Turkey and replacing it with a new multinational and multilingual
partnership republic have assumed very dangerous proportions under
the political protection and tolerance of the Justice and Development
Party government."

TUSIAD report

Bahceli charged that TUSIAD "sponsors the PKK’s politicization
projects."

Arguing that TUSIAD must form its own party and stand before
the nation, Bahceli said: "TUSIAD’s recommendations that mother
tongues other than Turkish be offered as elective courses and that
ethic-based political activity be allowed, as presented in its
‘Updated Democratization Report’ which was released last week,
suggest that TUSIAD also sponsors the PKK’s politicization projects.

"The president of TUSIAD has disclosed this new mission of his
organization by arguing that putting these issues on Turkey’s agenda
and opening them up for debate would help the formation of a pluralist
and democratic structure. He has described these PKK-patented proposals
as a conciliatory approach.

"Our advice and recommendation to TUSIAD is that, if they endorse
the PKK’s political goals, they must turn these into a political
programme, organize under a political party, and stand before the
Turkish nation. It is evident that TUSIAD would not have any financial
problems in forming a party given the resources it has."

Unsolved murders

When a reporter asked Bahceli who Dink’s murderer was, the MHP leader
said: "The social violence we have experienced as a society for the
last 40 years has given us the knowledge and experience to find out
who it is."

Bahceli said that the administrators of the state and potential
contenders for the administration of the state must pursue every
matter seriously. He added:

"It is disconcerting to see that murders that remained unsolved in the
period 1984-1991 resumed in the period 2002-2007. It is the government,
not we, that must investigate this issue. It must find the perpetrators
without fail. Those who pass themselves as intellectuals and have made
a habit of passing judgment before the perpetrators are found, members
of the press, men of thought, university faculty, and retired persons
who have run agencies like MIT [National Intelligence Organization]
must act more carefully."