Devlet Bahçeli, leader of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), a member of the government’s People’s Alliance, has signaled a surprise rapprochement with the opposition's Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) amid a normalization push in Turkish politics.
Referring to a much-debated handshake he had with DEM Party lawmakers last week at Parliament, Bahçeli said on Tuesday that the gesture was a "message of national unity and fraternity."
"It was an offer for them to become a party of Türkiye and join our national unity," Bahçeli told a weekly meeting of his party at Parliament in the capital of Ankara.
He hit out claims that his "not improvised good-intentioned attitude" was an attempt to "expand the ranks for the new constitution or the next presidential clash."
"We don’t extend our hand haphazardly," he said. "The DEM Party’s responsibility now is to appreciate the value of the extended hand and consider it a threshold."
Bahçeli has up until recently targeted the DEM Party over its ties to the PKK, calling for an end to its government funding and even its closure at times. His party, which has a traditional and nationalist constituency, is usually very strict on its views and stance toward the DEM Party.
The MHP leader’s olive branch comes as part of a new phase of "normalization" in Turkish politics following the March 31 local elections, notably urged by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as a push for unity amid escalating conflicts in the region.
The DEM Party is a successor of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), which later changed its name to the Green Left Party (YSP). It was founded by the same cadres of two parties who often resort to name-changing to avoid a shutdown by judicial authorities over its links to the PKK.
Tuncer Bakırhan, co-chair of the DEM Party, with whom Bahçeli shook hands first, told reporters that it was "something that was supposed to happen in Parliament."
"People were apparently surprised because they had not seen it before, as there was no ground for dialogue in Parliament," he said.
Indeed, Parliament ended a brief return from summer recess last month with a brawl between lawmakers.
Bahçeli similarly said Parliament must "work in agreement and common sense while regional borders are trying to be redrawn."
"Such agreement and consultation will spread to the people, as well," he said.
Parliament’s reopening on Oct. 1 had other scenes rare for Turkish politics, namely when the head of Türkiye’s main opposition, Özgür Özel and several of its deputies got up from their seats and applauded Erdoğan on their feet upon his entrance to the hall for his speech.
Bahçeli also shook hands with Özel, who has held two in-person talks with Erdoğan since March.
Özel himself says the CHP is adapting "a more apparent politics" despite widespread criticism from his internal dissidents and voter base.