Deniz Baykal, 78, is one of the leading members of the Republican People's Party (CHP), Turkey's main opposition party. Having served in many government positions, he became the leader of the party for a long time but had to resign from his position in 2010 during his last leadership term due to the circulation of a shocking hidden-camera video purporting to show him having an affair with a female CHP politician. The current CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu was elected soon afterwards.
Baykal said he was the victim of a conspiracy accusing the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government. Ever since the day the video was leaked, it has been widely believed that the plot against Baykal was organized by the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) led by Fetullah Gülen. However, Baykal has refused the claims saying that he received a phone call from the Gülenists and believed what they said. Baykal either chose to believe them by his own will or he was blackmailed. An investigation was launched and 120 people with links to FETÖ were recently taken into custody for the investigation in question and another one over other videotape conspiracies targeting members of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), a few months after the Baykal leak.
Baykal gave a live interview on TV this week and made some quite intriguing statements going back to a few months ago. He said, "We want Turkey to alleviate its internal conflicts. I want Turkey to reconcile. We missed a serious chance during the June 7 elections with regards to reconciliation in Turkey. During the June 7 elections, the necessity for reconciliation was made clear to Parliament."
Referring to a "coalition government" by using the word "reconciliation," he continued, "I believe that if a reconciliation was reached, there would have been no coup nor would the other crises have reached this point."
In the general elections that took place on June 7, 2015, the result was the first hung parliament for the last 16 years. The AK Party, which became the leading party for the fourth consecutive time in the elections, gaining 40.9 percent of the votes, could not reach a majority to form a one-party government for the first time in its history. The attempts to form a coalition government were unsuccessful, however, and Turkey went to a snap general election in Nov. 1, 2015.
While answering another question during the interview, Baykal reiterated his words once again and stated, "If an agreement had been reached on June 7, the events of July 15 would not have happened. If only it had been reached and all this hadn't happened."
Baykal's statement was really shocking, in that it suggests the coalition was desired by the coup plotters, or the Gülenists. In other words, the coup plotters attempted a coup because they could not get what they wanted in the elections. And it was not an AK Party politician who was uttering the words; they were said by one of the most influential figures of the CHP.
"A coalition party should be formed. We need to reach reconciliation. This is what we need." Such statements were some of the most reasonable arguments made by political analysts after the June 7 elections, but what made Turkish people feel suspicious about a coalition was that not only the opposition parties but also the Gülenists and even the outlawed PKK leaders, which resumed its fight against the Turkish state after it ended the cease-fire in July 2015, were insisting for a coalition government.
During those days, heavy pressure on the AK Party to form a government made the people think that the election results were abused for the sake of the anti-Erdoğan camp's will, and that it was one of the reasons the AK Party got 49.5 of the votes and the right to form a one-party government once again in the snap elections on Nov, 1, 2015. Not only do Baykal's statement prove the public suspicions justified, it also means FETÖ would have gotten what it wanted and would not have attempted a coup, if a coalition government was formed back then.
As soon as the election results were announced, MHP Chairman Devlet Bahçeli immediately closed his party's door to any possibility of a coalition. The MHP refused to be a part of a coalition either with the AK Party, or with a Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) and CHP, a coalition government which Kılıçdaroğlu referred to as the ‘60% bloc'. Even though mathematical possibilities suggested an AK Party-CHP or AK Party-HDP alliance, the truth was that the AK Party would try to make a coalition only with the CHP, not with the HDP, the party with close links to the PKK.
The negotiations between the AK Party and the CHP were unsuccessful, however, while the pressure to form a coalition government from the abovementioned outlawed groups as well as the anti-Erdoğan camp inside and outside Turkey reached intolerable levels. That's why, Baykal's statement also confirms that there was a "FETÖ-CHP alliance" and all anti-Erdoğan and anti-AK Party groups were supporting it.
So, had a coalition been formed after June 7, it looks like the Gülenists would have achieved their goal and found a great chance to continue their agenda and re-establish their "parallel state," which had become steadily paralyzed and dismantled, especially after 2013. Thank God, a coalition was not formed; the putschists crawled out of the woodwork, and the Turkish people defeated the heinous coup plotters on the night of July 15, risking and sacrificing their lives, and for the first time after years, Turkey got a chance to become truly independent.
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