Erdoğan briefs MHP leader on tension with the US over Brunson case

ANKARA

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on July 31 met Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli at his presidential complex. The meeting came after a National Security Council meeting on July 30.

The tete-a-tete meeting of the two also came ahead of a cabinet meeting on July 31. The request for the meeting came from the president.

Erdoğan briefed Bahçeli about recent tension between Turkey and the U.S. over the case of pastor Andrew Brunson and processes regarding the fight against the Fetullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ), according to presidential sources.

Erdoğan thanked Bahçeli for the support he lent over strained relations between Turkey and the U.S., sources said.

The two exchanged their views on the struggle against FETÖ after the lifting of the state of emergency.

The issue of ongoing military operations of the Turkish military was also on the agenda of the meeting.

Bahçeli and Erdoğan previously met after the June 24 polls, in which they were allies, and exchanged their views on the parliamentary works and preparations for the new term.

Meanwhile, the Turkish Industry and Business Association (TÜSİAD) chair Erol Bilecik has disapproved the remarks of U.S. President Donald Trump and U.S. Vice President Mike Pence on Brunson case.

"We can never approve of the remarks of Pence and Trump, especially over social media,” Bilecik told reporters during his visit to Parliament Speaker Binali Yıldırım on July 31.

Bilecik called on the two countries to make statements “with high diplomacy and aim for a solution.”