We’ll be part of AKP-MHP alliance: BBP chair Destici

GAZİANTEP – Doğan News Agency

The right-wing Islamic nationalist Great Union Party (BBP) will be part of the alliance between the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) for the upcoming June 24 snap elections, its leader Mustafa Destici said on April 28. 

“We’ll conduct a meeting with our provincial heads tomorrow [April 29]. After taking their opinions we as the BBP will share with the public how we will take part in this alliance. The BBP stands with the ‘People’s Alliance,’” Destici told reporters in the southeastern province of Gaziantep.

“For the new system to go into effect, the coming election is very critical. We will put in every effort possible for the new system to be launched. We will be on the field with all our cadres for both the [presidential] candidate and for the ‘People’s Alliance’ to be elected with a parliamentary majority,” he said.

Destici also touched on former President Abdullah Gül’s April 28 statement that he would not be running for the presidency, saying Gül’s decision was “correct.”

“Mr. Gül should actually not have taken this issue onto his agenda at all. He should not have given credence to those who made this proposal to him. The fact that he stayed silent for so long has had a negative impact and his own name has been damaged. But with his statement today he has put an end to the discussions. I believe this decision is the right one,” he said.