By Nergis Demirkaya
Imagine an organized crime network, protected and fed by political connections that it steadily expands. Such is its growth that its members can orchestrate conspiracies against the very police officers investigating them, sending those officers to jail. Nor does it stop there: they infiltrate the draft speech of the leader of a ruling alliance party, ensuring that words pleasing to the organization find their way into the final text.
None of this is the script of a classic mafia film. These are the allegations that have surfaced regarding the Ayhan Bora Kaplan criminal network, recently the subject of a series of operations. According to the latest indictment — circulating among mafia, politics, police, and the judiciary — a page from a speech to be delivered the next day by MHP Chair Devlet Bahçeli was shared with a member of the organization, accompanied by the message: “Tomorrow, something will explode at the MHP group meeting. İzzet U. is finalizing the text. He will slip it in.”
Of course no official explanation has been offered, yet it is widely speculated that the “İzzet U.” mentioned in the documents is İzzet Ulvi Yönter, who resigned from his post, as deputy chair, last week. According to MHP insiders, the resignation reflects internal tensions triggered by the events cited in the indictment — and Bahçeli’s “firm intervention” in response.
The claims and questions raised in the reports of journalists who cover judiciary and police such as Tolga Şardan, Asuman Aranca, and İsmail Arı — who was later detained over his coverage — remain unconfirmed. Yet when one recalls images of party officials posing with mobsters such as Alaattin Çakıcı, Kürşat Yılmaz, and Sedat Peker — all convicted on organized crime charges — it becomes difficult to dismiss the latest allegations outright.
RESIGNATION — OR DISMISSAL?
Although some of these allegations have surfaced in the media, the MHP maintains its silence. The party appears loyal to the maxim that “what happens within the group stays within the group.” The same approach was evident after Yönter’s resignation: Bahçeli said that Yönter had stepped down to focus on academic work, insisting there was no resentment or discord.
This is the nature of the MHP. Beyond Yönter’s removal, four MPs have resigned from the party over the past year and a half — without any official explanation. Yet in political backrooms, nearly all of these cases have been linked to allegations involving financial interests. Gold smuggling, for instance.
Similarly, allegations surrounding the 2022 murder of former Grey Wolves head Sinan Ateş — including claims by his family implicating certain party officials, among them Yönter — have largely been disregarded. Questions regarding the MHP’s role in the assasination have never been fully addressed.
THE MHP CODE
Celebrating its 57th anniversary this year, the MHP is one of Turkey’s oldest political movements after the CHP. Drawing support from a nationalist voter base estimated at between 8 and 18 percent, it has been a decisive actor since day one. Having indirectly given rise to three parties — the İYİ Party, from which sprang the Zafer Party and the Anahtar Party — the MHP nonetheless remains. Recent polls suggest it retains a 7–9 percent support level, enough to clear the electoral threshold.
Nearing three decades as party leader next year, Bahçeli has long worked with the same inner circle. Yet, this structure — once reflecting a careful balance within the party — is ringing alarm bells ahead of these allegations.
Though rarely visible to the public, internal power struggles are said to be creating pressures that call for a surgical overhaul of the leadership. It is widely expected that Bahçeli may make such changes at the upcoming party congress.
According to MHP officials who spoke to Turkey in Depth, sweeping changes — first at the provincial level and then within the party’s top executive body, the Presidential Council — would not come as a surprise. Having held its last grand congress on March 17, 2024, the MHP is due to convene another within the next year. The changes Bahçeli may introduce are expected to signal his eventual successor.
Having shaped key turning points — from early election calls to the alliance with the AK Party and most recently the “Terror-Free Turkey” process — the party’s next moves will resonate far beyond its own ranks. How the MHP resolves its internal tensions will matter not only for the party itself but for the trajectory of Turkish politics as a whole.
