If Türkeş is displaying defiance then he did well

Turkey's political scene seems to be riddled with surprises and ups and downs these days. Even the establishment of a caretaker government, which will serve for two months only, has become a political puzzle. This is how things are in Turkey's political scene these days.

Justice and Development Party (AK Party) Chairman and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, who is charged with forming the elections government, sent letters to the deputies of the left-wing Republican People's Party (CHP,) the right-wing Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and the Kurdish nationalist Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) inviting them to join his Cabinet along with 11 of his AK Party colleagues. According to law, parties will be represented in the Cabinet according to the seats they have in Parliament, which means five seats will go to the CHP, three to the MHP and three to the HDP. If the deputies invited to participate in the Cabinet turn down Davutoğlu then he has the right to name independents to fill these portfolios.

The CHP deputies led by former Chairman Deniz Baykal declined the invitation in written letters. That was expected so there were no surprises in that flank.

However on the MHP front, Tuğrul Türkeş, the deputy chairman of the party and son of Alparslan Türkeş who is the late founder and mentor of the party, surprised everyone by accepting the invitation of the prime minister and will take up a Cabinet seat. Many commentators considered the move as a coup that shook the foundations of the MHP and angered party chairman and strongman Devlet Bahçeli.

However, some people said the AK Party had "bought" Türkeş and that Davutoğlu was exploiting the anger of Türkeş towards Bahçeli.

The AK Party has applauded Türkeş for accepting the invitation to enter the Cabinet "as the cat of a responsible statesman" while MHP people have strongly condemned him and the party leadership has swiftly started formal proceedings to throw him out of the party. There are claims that this process may take up to two months due to party rules.

The AK Party should applaud Türkeş's decision but that is as far as it should go. The AK Party should not try to capitalize on the Türkeş issue and try to hit Bahçeli from this angle. It should not give the impression that Türkeş has "cooperated" with the AK Party and it should not try to name him in the new list of candidates from the AK Party ticket in the upcoming elections. If this is done it will not only consolidate the MHP votes and portray the party as a victim of a plot by the AK Party but it will also lead to a drop in the much needed votes for the AK Party.

Türkeş has been displeased with the general negative political attitude of Bahçeli and his uncompromising manner. So as an act of defiance as the son of Alparslan Türkeş his move can be applauded as a democratic and justified stance rarely seen in Turkish politics. Many people in the MHP grassroots of the MHP masses then he has done an excellent job.

Meanwhile, another surprise has come from the HDP ranks. Political observers expected the HDP deputies who were offered Cabinet seats to accept and join the Cabinet. That is what HDP Co-Chair Selahattin Demirtaş had said. But on Thursday İzmir HDP deputy Levent Tüzel dropped the bomb saying he rejected joining the Cabinet. So there are cracks in the HDP ranks as well as in the MHP ranks.