Erdoğan Slanders, Lies And Defames Rivals, Says Bahçeli

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan uses slander, lies and mudslinging habitually as his political tactics, Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli has said, asserting that the prime minister's recent accusation of the MHP “as making the job of Israel easier” is clear proof of his dishonesty.

Speaking at a party event to mark Eid, or bayram, on Wednesday in İzmir at the İzmir Halkapınar Sports Hall, Bahçeli accused Erdoğan of being a co-chairman of the Great Middle East Project (BOP), a plan supposedly devised by the US to shift regional balances. “This man,” he said, referring to Erdoğan, “has only talked at a time when Israel is burning Gaza. This man has only made loud noises when there was a coup in Egypt.”

In his speech, Bahçeli asked his party's backers to support Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu, the joint presidential candidate nominated for the MHP and the Republican People's Party (MHP). Speaking about the current situation in the Middle East, the MHP leader said: “If you'll notice, Muslims are dying and being killed systematically. Chaos and savagery dominate the Muslim world. The nations that have broken off from our empire are literally being buried alive. The peoples who have lived in brotherhood under the Ottoman peace are now crying out for help.”

Bahçeli said Erdoğan has helped shape the current events in the Middle East by staying silent in the face of developments in the region threatening Turkey. “Turkey's historical power has been eroded by the candidate Erdoğan. Turkey's reputation has been ruined by the candidate Erdoğan. Turkey's national and cultural accumulation has been smashed by Erdoğan,” Bahçeli said, maintaining that Erdoğan has destroyed Turkey's neighborly relations with the surrounding countries.

“As candidate Erdoğan has stood in the front cursing at Israel, his son in the background has neared Israeli ports with his ships. Candidate Erdoğan has accused Israel as a state of terror on the stage, but has given more luster to the Jewish courage medal around his neck backstage,” Bahçeli said, referring to the Courage Award given to Erdoğan by the American Jewish Congress, which he recently returned after the group accused Erdoğan of having become the world's "most virulent anti-Israel leader" and demanding that he return the award last week.

The prime minister has publicly criticized Israel but at the same time imported jet fuel to this country, Bahçeli said. “Erdoğan slanders, lies, engages in mudslinging and obscures [the truth]. His claim that we [as the MHP] have done all sorts of ugly things to make life easy for Israel is the most obvious proof of his slanderous political mentality. For somebody to call us ‘the lackeys of Israel,' they must be a descendant of Goliath or walk in the footsteps of the Pharaoh.”

In a speech on July 25, Erdoğan criticized the MHP of not genuinely caring about the Turkmens under threat in various warring Middle Eastern countries, but only “being interested in being lackeys for Israel.” (Cihan/Today's Zaman)

SHOTLIST
TURKEY, IZMIR, 30 JULY 2014

Bahçeli coming to the hall
VAR of applauding audience
VAR of Bahçeli's statements

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