PM Erdoğan is a schizophrenic, according to MHP's Büyükataman

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan most likely suffers from paranoid schizophrenia, according to Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Secretary-General İsmet Büyükataman, who also said that the prime minister often does not know what he is saying.

Speaking at a meeting of his party's provincial heads on Wednesday, Büyükataman said the prime minister speaks without paying attention to the possible consequences of his words. “The prime minister, who has many times proven that he has no rivals when it comes to having an unbridled tongue, speaks at every opportunity he gets in a way that would make the best agitators jealous.”

He also said the prime minister speaks of Pennsylvania -- where Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, who is the inspiration behind the faith-based Hizmet movement, which the prime minister says is trying to overthrow government, is based -- everywhere he goes. Büyükataman said that in a recent speech, Erdoğan even said Pennsylvania when he meant to say Pınarhisar, a western Turkish town. The MHP secretary-general also said the prime minister constantly talks about a “parallel structure.”

Erdoğan refers to the Hizmet movement as a “parallel structure” nested within the state, but has increasingly used the term more liberally to include any societal group that is not supportive of his government.

Büyükataman claimed that the prime minister believes that everything around him is connected to Pennsylvania. “The prime minister most likely suffers from paranoid schizophrenia. His continuing his duties in this condition is extremely dangerous for the future of the nation and the state. Most recently, he claimed that our party has collaborated with Pennsylvania.”

Büyüaktaman said Erdoğan has “gone into a rage and lost himself” and doesn't know what he is saying, due to his “condition.”

He also said that Erdoğan used insults when referring to the MHP and its leader Devlet Bahçeli on Wednesday during a meeting of the Justice and Development Party's (AK Party) provincial chairpeople. “The prime minister has done what his level and his quality -- which doesn't exist -- necessitates and uttered words that actually describe himself.” Büyükataman said Erdoğan is speaking out of the fear that he will one day have to answer for the corruption allegations brought against his government. He accused the prime minister of using polarizing language that lacks even the “minimal politeness.”

In the past 12 years, Büyükataman said, the AK Party government has dragged Turkey into a “spiral of oppression, imposition and concessions.” He accused the AK Party of having “sat down with the enemy,” referring to ongoing settlement talks with the head of the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) Abdullah Öcalan.

Published on Cihan, 25 June 2014, Wednesday