Faced with a growing scandal centered on the sex tapes of members of the nationalist opposition party, Turkish politicians from across the spectrum are speaking out about a controversy increasingly seen as a threat to the countryís entire political realm.

The secret filming, and strategic release, of incriminating footage of politicians is not an attack on an individual party, but a plot that is hurting Turkish politics in its entirety, Parliament head Mehmet Ali Şahin said Sunday. He added that he found it ugly for such incidents to shape Turkish politics.

Anonymous figures last week threatened to release R-rated footage of senior Nationalist Movement Party, or MHP, officials on the website Farkliulkuculer.com if MHP leader Devlet BahÁeli did not resign.

BahÁeli challenged the threats, saying neither he nor the MHP officials in question would go anywhere and that those making the demands were free to release the images.

A sex tape featuring MHP deputy leader Mehmet Ekici was released on Farkliulkuculer.com on Saturday, with an announcement that fellow deputy leader Osman «akır would be next. Both men resigned from the party over the weekend, as did deputy leaders Deniz Bˆl¸kbaşı and ‹mit Şafak; Secretary-General Mustafa Cihan PaÁacı; and Chairmanship Council member Mehmet Taytak BahÁeli.

Their departures bring to 10 the total of senior party members who have now resigned from the MHP due to the release of the tapes. Recai Yıldırım, Metin «obanoğlu, B¸lent Didinmez and Mehmet Taytak all resigned from the party in the past few months due to the release of illegally obtained footage of them with women.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan slammed the incident Sunday, while also criticizing allegations pointing to his ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, as the perpetrator behind the plot.

Contrary to his former use of such incidents against the MHP, Erdoğan said some figures were now trying to shape the MHP with ìuglyî plots after the longtime head of the main opposition Republican Peopleís Party, or CHP, was felled in a similar scandal last year.

ìThis is very ugly and dangerous,î Erdoğan said, speaking at his partyís election rally in the northwestern province of Kocaeli.

ìThose who blame our party for such tapes are in a serious delusion. It is an attempt for CHP leader Kemal KılıÁdaroğlu, who came to power with a similar tape scandal, to conceal his inappropriate position by slandering,î Erdoğan said.

ìI advise the MHP to see these gangs, dirty plans and conspiracies and stop cooperating with them before itís too late,î the prime minister said. ìI suggest the MHP and CHP back out of the gang alliance that they have created. Instead of losing control of his anger and blaming the AKP, the MHP leader needs to open his eyes and see these gangs.î

The government has been harshly criticized by the opposition for not taking action to find the perpetrators in the MHP scandal or the one that caused CHP chief Deniz Baykal to step down last year.

Speaking to journalists Sunday, KılıÁdaroğlu agreed that ìmaking politics through illegal discoveries is immoral,î while Deputy Prime Minister B¸lent ArınÁ said the individuals behind the tapes ìare doing very bad things both morally and legally.î

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BahÁeli avoided making comments on the issue during his partyís election rally in Isparta on Sunday, though he had in former speeches criticized the ruling party for using the incidents as political material.

With party officials agreeing that the consecutive release of the sex tapes are a plot to discredit the MHP party in the eyes of the people prior to the June 12 general elections, BahÁeli had previously hinting that the AKP and the religious leader Fethullah G¸len, who is in a self-imposed exile in the United States, might have a hand in the incidents.

AKP group deputy chairman Mustafa Elitaş said Sunday that the tapes also targeted the AKP by steering MHP votes toward the CHP.

ìThe deeds done are ugly, and putting them on a website is even uglier. But what bothers us is that they are trying to smear us while they struggle to free themselves of their own dirt,î Elitaş said.

Daily Vatan columnist Ruşen «akır wrote Sunday that none of the opposition parties have the equipment to pull off such a detailed, professional and well-facilitated plot. He also said the timing of the scandal indicates that those responsible cannot be from within the MHP.

ìA plot obviously trying to keep the MHP out of Parliament is not a ërestoration,í but a ëdeconstruction.í They are not only trying to ensure the MHP stays below the 10 percent election threshold, but they are also trying to purge the party,î «akır wrote.

Columnist Fehmi Koru of conservative daily Zaman wrote Sunday that he was extremely disturbed by the fact that the methods used to benefit from such tapes worked in political life. Introducing below-the-belt tactics in politics and benefiting from them may bring great harm, Koru wrote.