Opposition parties rule out coalition scenarios with AKP

While the leaders of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) both said in separate televised interviews that they had no intention of forming a coalition government with the AKP, the head of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) previously told the Hürriyet Daily News that the MHP is not in favor of a coalition. 

Speaking live on private broadcaster CNN Türk on May 27, HDP Co-Chair Selahattin Demirtaş said his party did not aim to form or support a coalition with the AKP. 

“Don’t worry, Turkey will not be left without a government. The CHP’s senior figures said they could form a coalition with the AKP. But we do not aim to form a coalition with the AKP or support it from outside. We want to be a strong opposition,” Demirtaş said. 

Almost at the same time on May 27, CHP head Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu was asked the same question as Demirtaş. He responded by saying the CHP could never come together with a party that was involved in corruption. 

“How could you form a coalition with a party that has made corruption its slogan? What will I say to those who ask me how I joined together with them? We have fought against corruption for all our lives, so how will we come together with people who are corrupt,” said Kılıçdaroğlu, speaking on private broadcaster NTV. 

Speaking to the Hürriyet Daily News on May 14, MHP head Devlet Bahçeli said he was against coalitions and aimed to secure power as a single party. 

“Turkey has a tradition of coalitions. But unfortunately coalitions failed to deliver much to people, and they were not long-lasting either. We do not favor a coalition. We aim to establish our own government,” Bahçeli said.