MHP dissidents lean toward staying in party

ANKARA

An opposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) dissident politician has said the MHP “is our home,” signaling that the renegaded group was not considering establishing a new party.  

“The MHP is our home and a mother’s bosom. My friends and I don’t have a plan B,” Koray Aydın said on April 20.

MHP dissidents campaigned for a “no” vote in the April 16 constitutional referendum, in which the “yes” campaign emerged as the winner with 51.4 percent of the votes, while the party leadership supported shifting Turkey to an executive presidential system.

After the referendum, one of the highly debated topics involving the MHP has been about the vote distribution within the party, which led to unconfirmed reports that the dissidents, mainly Aydın, Sinan Oğan, Meral Akşener and Ümit Özdağ, would found another party. 

Akşener, Oğan, Aydın and Özdağ had previously expressed their intention to run for the party leadership, but saw their attempt stymied by their party and the court system.

Saying that the “strong voice of ‘no’ votes came from the nationalists,” Aydın noted that those who “drag the nationalist community to an irreversible road were left alone on that road.”

“Those who pay no attention to the understanding that an idealist is the brother of an idealist, those who don’t rely on their idealist brother while treating strangers with respect, are the addressees of this major defeat,” he said.

Turkish nationalists are often known as “Idealists” (Ülkücüler), a group that supports the MHP.

Aydın in a written statement said that “the idealist friendship can’t be left to the debate between the ‘yes’ and ‘no.’”

“Even though doing politics gets harder each day in the MHP base, the responsibility to catch that political base is on us. As idealist Turkish nationalists, we will continue to bother those who remain unbothered in this scene of disappointment. MHP, with all its nobility and power, is our heart’s palace with its deep history and roots. Our revival is definitely in our roots,” he added. 

Akşener on April 19 also denied claims that she was planning to establish a new party.