"We believe members of Parliament will protect their honor in the face of such treachery and do what is necessary to clean up this stain," said Bahçeli in a statement he released yesterday. His remarks came in protest of Türk, who addressed lawmakers in Kurdish during his party's parliamentary group meeting on Tuesday. Türk's move sparked a heated debate over whether a politician can speak a language other than Turkish in Parliament.

The public use of Kurdish was prohibited following a 1980 military coup, and the ban remained in place until 1991. Bahçeli said in his statement that terrorism-backed ethnic separatism had been carried to the political scene, adding that Türk's switch into Kurdish in Parliament was a strategy to turn the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) into a political body. "Today's political atmosphere -- in which the fundamental values of our country are degraded, Turkish history is questioned and all kinds of dishonor are applauded -- has paved the way for threats against the survival of our country," the statement read. Bahçeli also warned that no one should dare to even imagine dividing the Turkish nation and state. "No one should imagine changing the principles that stand as the fundamental values of the Republic of Turkey or replacing the united structure of the state with something else," he said. PINAR KAMAN ANKARA