İsmail Kahraman conceals his past

When in the previous term Parliamentary Speaker İsmail Kahraman was elected
Parliamentary Speaker, his past record was commented on at length in our newspaper, as in
many press outlets. Minds were cast back to the time between the years of 1967-1969 when
İsmail Kahraman chaired the National Turkish Students Union (MTTB) and to Bloody
Sunday and the attacks that the MTTB staged on the 20 April student march in Ankara. Prior
to the election for Parliamentary Speaker held on 20 November 2017 in which İsmail
Kahraman successfully stood for re-election, CHP members of parliament protested against
Kahraman by displaying pictures of Ali Turgut Aytaç and Duran Erdoğan, who were
murdered on Bloody Sunday, in front of their benches. CHP Istanbul MP Ali Şeker, in a
speech he made from the rostrum later that day, mentioned the event that has gone down in
Turkish political history as “Bloody Sunday” and cast accusations at Kahraman. On the day
following the election for speaker, the Parliamentary Press, Publications and Public Relations
Directorate made a written statement with reference to Kahraman saying, “On the stated date,
our Speaker İsmail Kahraman was not serving as an association chair and had absolutely no
involvement in the events brought up for debate.”

On the following day, the statement that was both sent to the press and placed on the official
website of the Parliamentary Speaker’s Office was rebutted through documents. CHP
Istanbul MP Ali Şeker, CHP Bursa MP Orhan Sarıbal, CHP Antalya MP Niyazi Nefi Kara
and CHP Çanakkale MP Bülent Öz, in a joint statement they made, adduced the MTTB’s
report on its 49 th term activities and the Parliamentary Album of Members of Parliament by
way of documentation that İsmail Kahraman was MTTP Chair on 16 February 1969, the date
“Bloody Sunday” occurred. It is stated on the first page of the MTTB’s 49 th General Board
Activities Report that the report covers the period 15 March 1967-28 April 1969. The
information is also contained in İsmail Kahraman’s biography in the Parliamentary Album of
Members of Parliament that he was the MTTB’s Chair in its 48 th term. On perusing
Cumhuriyet newspaper’s archives, we come across a report of a press conference at which
MTTB Chair İsmail Kahraman criticised actions “protesting the Sixth Fleet” on 14 February
1969. Kahraman criticised the actions “protesting the Sixth Fleet” at the press conference he
held saying, “Actions of this nature are a step in a plan to make Turkey communist.”

Ubiquitous documentation

It is apparent from the first page of the report discussing 48 th term activities that was
submitted to the MTTB’s 49 th general assembly and can easily be accessed on the internet
that the 48 th term covered the period from 15 March 1967 to 28 April 1969. On pages 13 and
14 of this report, İsmail Kahraman’s preface appears in his capacity as MTTB General Chair.

It can readily be ascertained from these documents that İsmail Kahraman was MTTB’s
General Chair on 16 February 1969, the date “Bloody Sunday” occurred.

Unacceptable lies

CHP Istanbul MP Ali Şeker said the following in the statement he made, noting that, prior to
the action protesting the Sixth Fleet, a respect for the flag rally was organised on Friday 14
February spearheaded by the MTTB and the Anti-Communism Associations, and threatening
speeches were made targeting participants in the Sunday 16 February Sixth Fleet protest both
prior to this rally and in speeches made in Beyazıt Mosque: “For example, a Bloody Sunday
file involving witnesses of the event was published in the 1 February 1987 Nokta magazine.
From what is reported in this file, Anti-Communism Associations’ Chair İlhan Darendelıoğlu
made the following pronouncement at a joint meeting held in the MTTB building on 14
February: ‘The communists will hold a rally on Sunday. We will wage war at this meeting.
Those having guns should come with them, and those who do not with axes.’ Similar
statements are contained on the pages of the MTTB Activities Report. İsmail Kahraman said
in the speech he made in Beyazıt Mosque, ‘Speaking as youth, no opportunity will be given
to four or five degenerates’ and commented as follows: ‘We have gathered here to take
historic decisions. Turkish nationalism, which has now completed its period of advice and
recommendation, will reveal new dawns and new activism in the days to come, and will show
that Turkey’s owners are the nationalists.’ There are many similar statements in the
newspapers of the day. It is known that the MTTB organised the people with cries of
‘Religion is slipping from our hands.’ A little research is all that is needed to get at the truth.
In conclusion, it is apparent from the documents I have shown that the statement made with
reference to İsmail Kahraman entails remarks that tend towards distortion of the truth and
denial. The Parliamentary Speakership is one of the most important offices in the Republic of
Turkey. It is unacceptable for somebody holding that office to lie. And I deem the comment
in the Parliamentary Speaker’s press statement, putting himself in the place of prosecutors,
that ‘the necessary prosecutions will be conducted’ to be a confession as to the state into
which they have brought our country’s legal system.”