İhsanoğlu’s nomination a chance for developments in Middle East: MHP

ANKARA

The appointment of Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu’s as the opposition’s joint candidate for Turkey’s next president will be positive for the country given his vast knowledge and experience in the Middle East, the head of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) has said.

“Given the growing regional problems, Mr. İhsanoğlu’s election as the next head of the nation will be a chance for Turkey,” Devlet Bahçeli, leader of the MHP, said in his weekly group meeting at Parliament.
Bahçeli recalled that İhsanoğlu, the former head of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and a renowned academic known for his studies on Islamic history, has vast knowledge and experience in the region and that would set a very good basis for his potential presidency.

Underlining that the MHP’s consensus with the Republican People’s Party (CHP) over İhsanoğlu’s candidacy was not an alliance between the two parties, but a reflection of the need for greater conciliation over the current national political situation, Bahçeli said this deal between the opposition parties was a promising move in terms of developing a democratic culture in Turkey.

“I hope the other parties with whom we had consultations over presidential elections will join us,” he said, referring to the Great Union Party (BBP) and Felicity Party (SP) who have around three percent of the votes.

Bahçeli strongly criticized the government’s Middle East policies and its inaction following the abduction of 80 Turkish citizens, including Öztürk Yıldırım, the consul-general in Mosul, by members of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levent (ISIL).

“The government has no foreign policy,” Bahçeli said, urging that Iraq was on edge of being divided into three pieces with no guarantee of Turkmen being given a place in the country.

“Turkmens are suffering today and are being subjected to genocide. They are stuck between the Kurds’ peshmergas and the jihadists [ISIL],” Bahçeli said, calling the government to consider military action to protect Turkmens in Iraq.