Celal Adan, deputy speaker of the parliament and a senior figure in the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), visited an art exhibit in İstanbul addressing themes of the forced disappearances of Kurds and restrictions on the Kurdish language, Patronlar Dünyası news site reported.
The exhibit, titled The Lost Alphabet (Kayıp Alfabe), was created by artist Ahmet Güneştekin and features nearly 350 works, including sculptures, installations, videos, ceramics, and other media.
Adan was accompanied during his visit to the Artİstanbul Feshane gallery by Güneştekin, prominent businessman Murat Ülker of Yıldız Holding, the sponsor of the exhibition, and businessperson and Fenerbahçe President Ali Koç.
The visit comes amid the MHP's recent openings regarding the Kurdish issue. MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli, who has previously taken a hardline stance on Kurdish matters, has suggested that Abdullah Öcalan, the imprisoned leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), should engage in dialogue with the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party. Bahçeli implied that Öcalan might eventually benefit from a "right to hope" policy—potentially leading to his release—if he declared the dissolution of the PKK.
Following Bahçeli's initvative, DEM Party delegations met with Öcalan twice on İmralı Island, where he has been held under strict isolation for years without access to legal counsel or family visits.
Adan, for his part, has previously enforced parliamentary rules restricting the use of non-Turkish languages, including Kurdish, during debates. He had cut off microphones when Kurdish-speaking MPs from the DEM Party addressed parliament. However, in a December session, Adan allowed DEM lawmaker Ayşegül Doğan to greet Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz in Kurdish. Yılmaz, an ethnic Kurd himself, was welcomed with the phrase “Hûn bi xêr hatin,” meaning “Welcome” in Kurdish. (VK)
