CHP dismisses calls for extraordinary convention, MHP leader brushes aside calls for resignation

ANKARA

Reuters Photo

The Republican People’s Party (CHP) has dismissed calls for an extraordinary party convention, while the leader of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) has defiantly stood behind his recent policies despite being blamed for the party’s disappointing showing in the Nov. 1 elections.

An upcoming CHP convention, which will be held on schedule, will offer a chance for the CHP to discuss matters, Deputy Chair Mehmet Bekaroğlu told reporters late Nov. 4, following a Central Executive Board (MYK) meeting of the party chaired by leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu.

Earlier in the day, Umut Oran, a former deputy of the CHP, released a written statement in which he dubbed the Nov. 1 snap election results a “failure” for his party and its leader, while calling for an extraordinary convention during which he would attempt to replace Kılıçdaroğlu as party leader.

“The calls for an extraordinary convention are not realistic. The convention will be held after two months anyway,” Bekaroğlu said, noting that the convention would be held in either late January or early February 2016.

Meanwhile, MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli has resolutely defied criticism directed at his conduct of politics after his party witnessed a dramatic fall in the Nov. 1 snap elections, dismissing calls for his resignation from the party leadership.

“Everybody is bringing Nov. 1 to the table with comments in line with their opinion, ideology and mental environment, but no one has seen that it was actually Turkey who left the table,” said Bahçeli, speaking characteristically enigmatically, while indicating that Turkey had been left “on an operating table.”

“All the same, I’ve been following what is being written and said, and offensive assessments about me and the MHP with bewilderment and amusement,” Bahçeli said in messages posted to his Twitter account late Nov. 4.

The MHP leader, who categorically rejected any coalition with the Justice and Development Party (AKP) after the June 7 elections, argued that it was the AKP which avoided engaging in any coalition partnership. 

He also declared that the MHP would never engage in any activity that was also supported by the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), meaning that opposition parties failed to elect a non-Justice and Development Party (AKP) member as parliamentary speaker after the June 7 elections despite possessing numerical superiority.

“No matter who says what, I’m loyal to my principles until the end,” Bahçeli said. “If it happened again today, I would again say ‘no’ to all the plots of those who said ‘yes’ to the 10 articles of the PKK, and I will continue saying so,” he said, indicating his earlier claims that the AKP government had bowed to demands by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

“I devoted my life to the Turkish nation,” Bahçeli said, vowing not to step back from his stance. “It is faith which determines the limit of success for a goal.”