Erdoğan invites MHP leader Bahçeli to presidential palace to talk nationalist alliance

ISTANBUL

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Jan. 9 that he has invited longtime Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli to the presidential palace in Ankara for a meeting.

Bahçeli, on the same day, accepted Erdoğan's invitation.

The meeting will be held at the presidential complex on Jan. 10, broadcaster CNN TÜRK reported.

The invite comes after Bahçeli on Jan. 8 declared that he would not be running as a candidate in the presidential election scheduled for 2019, instead rallying behind Erdoğan, the head of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).