Turkish PM Erdoğan worked with ‘parallel structure’ for years: MHP

Umut ERDEM ANKARA

DHA Photo

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had been working with what he calls the “parallel structure” for 11 years of his 12 year rule, Devlet Bahçeli, leader of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), told journalists late July 14.

“The parallel structure is a kind of perception management based on concepts designed and picked by Erdoğan and his cadre. It is nothing to take seriously. He was together with those he calls the parallel structure for at least 11 years of his 12 year rule,” Bahçeli said.

Erdoğan has been at odds with the U.S. based Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen and his movement, calling it the “parallel structure” within the state, since the start of the graft probe on Dec. 17, 2013. Erdoğan blames the Gülenists for their involvement in the operation that purged Cabinet ministers and their sons.

As a result, public trust in both Erdoğan and Gülen is very low, Bahçeli said, adding the government should privatize or close TRT, the state television channel, for its disproportionate coverage of the other presidential candidates for the upcoming Aug. 10 elections.

Erdoğan will be running against the joint MHP and Republican People’s Party (CHP) candidate Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu, former head of the Organization for Islamic Cooperation (OIC), and Selahattin Demirtaş of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP).