MHP warns party members to respect ‘People’s Alliance’ with AKP

ANKARA

The Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader issued a circular note to his party organizations on Nov. 1, in which he said the party would run in the elections alone without any alliance, but party members must act in line with the nature of the “People’s Alliance” formed with the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). 

The circular note, titled “that which the party organizations should follow,” lists nine points stating that all statements made by party members should respect the alliance.

The People’s Alliance is not “a passing fancy” that has come up over “political negotiations” and not a partnership that will be broken after finalizing business, said the document.

The MHP announced on Oct. 23 it would not ally with the AKP for the March 2019 municipal elections amid a growing row between the two parties over a debate on “nationalism” and a proposed amnesty law, signaling an end to the People’s Alliance they had formed earlier in 2018.

“We are going to draw up our own plan for the local elections. We are pulling back from our demand for an alliance [with the AKP],” MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli told his parliamentary group.

The MHP and the AKP had formed the People’s Alliance for the June 24 presidential and parliamentary elections, which had led to the election of the latter’s chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as the first executive president of Turkey.

Ties between the two parties have recently been strained after the MHP submitted a draft law to parliament for a partial amnesty for some convicts. The AKP reacted strongly against the MHP’s move.

Another source of tension appeared after Turkey’s administrative court ordered the reinstatement of the national oath in schools across Turkey, which had been removed in 2009.

While the AKP strongly slammed the court for it, the MHP defended the oath and accused the ruling party of undermining the “Turkishness” of the country.