MHP gives blank check to AKP in anti-terror fight

ANKARA

CİHAN photo

The leader of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) has given a blank check to the government on terrorism, announcing that it will readily do its part in parliament if the ruling party continues behaving in line with “national sensitivities” against terrorism. “I note with determination and an open heart that the Turkish people will not be defeated and handed over to terror. The MHP will readily do its part as long as the AKP [Justice and Development Party] government protects national reflexes and sensitivities,” Bahçeli told his parliamentary group on March 22. 

Terrorism will surely be defeated, Bahçeli said, adding that the MHP would continue to be the voice of the Turkish people in line with its principle of a responsible and consistent political understanding. “The MHP will praise the government when it does right but will continue to criticize it when it does wrong,” he said. 

Bahçeli’s statement came after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said an alliance between the AKP and MHP would be sufficient to submit a new constitution to parliament. 

The MHP leader did not offer further comment on Erdoğan’s statement, but he touched on an ongoing discussion on the removal of immunities of lawmakers from the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), which is focused on the Kurdish question. Bahçeli repeated his proposal that a priority in the removal of immunities of lawmakers from all four political parties should be given to those from the HDP. “Let’s send all those political separatists to justice,” he said.