Devlet Bahçeli, chairperson of the government ally Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), had candid remarks regarding the ongoing U.S.-Israel-Iran war and cautioned that Türkiye and other regional countries stand to lose without measures.
Addressing the mayors of his party at an event in Ankara on Saturday evening, Bahçeli said “an uncontrolled weakening or dissolution” in Iran would not be merely a domestic issue of Iran. “It has the potential to generating a belt of instability in the regional countries. What Türkiye faces is not simply a potential crisis on the border. This is an outlook that may directly affect national security, border security and overall regional stability,” he said.
Türkiye has been the target of missiles during the ongoing conflict but no casualties or damage were reported so far after the NATO defense systems intercepted the missiles. Ankara hinted that its patience may run out if the conflict fully spills over into its territory but always championed diplomacy to resolve the conflict. Türkiye holds a leading position in the region as a country with good ties, both with Tehran and Washington.
In 2024, Bahçeli prophesied that Israel’s expansionist policies in the region may turn to Türkiye eventually and proposed a terror-free Türkiye initiative, to get rid of the PKK terrorism that had affected the country for more than four decades. The initiative was a bid to strengthen Turkish-Kurdish unity as Bahçeli said earlier, to form a “home front” against the Israeli aggression. The initiative is still underway and Ankara monitors the full dissolution of the terrorist group, which made a landmark decision to dissolve itself last year. The PKK, which claims to fight for so-called Kurdish self-rule, is associated with similar groups in Syria and Iran. U.S. President Donald Trump recently voiced that he favored those “Kurdish” groups to join the fight against Tehran though he later backtracked.
In his speech on Saturday, Bahçeli said the Middle East has long been the home of “conflicts among proxies” but the situation has changed now, creating new risks for every actor in the region. Bahçeli noted that post-World War I status quo established by United Kingdom and partially by France in the region was built on “explicitly drawn borders and security mechanisms relying abroad.”
“Today, the U.S.’ strategic approach that puts Israel on its center attempts to redesign the security in the region. It is the second time that the fate of the Middle East faces an attempt to redesign it with foreign intervention,” he warned.
Bahçeli pointed to the past decade of civil war in neighboring Syria and urged people to learn lessons. “When the central authority is weakened, armed groups, proxy groups, irregular migration, unregistered economy thrive and the country becomes a field feasible for foreign intervention. We should see what is happening in Iran in the same manner,” he said.
Delving into Israel’s recent attacks on Lebanon, Bahçeli said Lebanon was almost a scaled-down model of the situation in the greater Middle East. “Looking past the ongoing conflict over Lebanon, we see a history of the Ottoman rule, a period of foreign mandates, a civil war, the 2006 crisis and other situations that demonstrate the loss of internal balance is quickly followed by foreign intervention. The foreign intervention lessens a country’s own might. When you lose the power, armed groups trump the state authority. This is what is unfolding in Lebanon again,” he said.
“At this point, a clear question must be asked: If the Palestinian (territories) has effectively been reduced and fragmented into a limited space, where will the next line of pressure emerge?” he said. “The answer is not difficult to see. Lebanon is increasingly becoming a target. This development represents a serious geopolitical rupture not only for Lebanon but for the entire Eastern Mediterranean.”
Bahçeli emphasized that Lebanon is also one of the key junctions of the Eastern Mediterranean. He described Beirut as more than just a capital, calling it a major gateway where trade, culture and geopolitics have intersected throughout history.
Saying the country and its capital constitute one of the most sensitive links in the region’s balance, Bahçeli argued that the issue of Lebanon can no longer be addressed solely within the narrow framework of current conflicts.
“Bolder and more comprehensive options that would strengthen Lebanon’s state capacity, reinforce its sovereignty and ensure lasting stability in the Eastern Mediterranean must be openly discussed,” he said. “Strengthening Lebanon internally, establishing regional stability mechanisms and, if necessary, evaluating new political and economic cooperation opportunities with neighboring regions is now an urgent need that can no longer be postponed.
“The reality is this: If Lebanon, our maritime neighbor, collapses, it would not be just one country that collapses, a new belt of instability would emerge in the Eastern Mediterranean. If Beirut falls, it would not be only a city that is wounded, the geopolitical balance of the region would be shaken. For this reason, the Lebanon issue is not solely Lebanon’s problem. It is also a strategic matter directly linked to the future of the region and the security of Türkiye,” he noted.
