There is no Kurdish problem: MHP leader

ISTANBUL

MHP's 10th Congress in Ankara, AA photo

The Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) is holding its 10th congress today in Ankara with leader Devlet Bahçeli fighting to hold onto his chair against nine other candidates.

Bahçeli’s strongest rival is MHP Trabzon deputy Koray Aydın, according to daily Hürriyet. A total of 1,241 delegates at the congress will determine the party’s future leadership direction.

Taking the floor, Bahçeli denounced the “blood-sucking vampires” arrayed against Turkey. "If the Nationalist Movement exists, solutions are not exhausted yet. If there is an Ülkücü [Idealist] Movement, nothing has ended yet. We're here against the co-chairman [Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan] of the Greater Middle Eastern Project [an alleged U.S. plot to control the region], his friends in betrayal, blood-sucking vampires, and we're ready to do all we can for the people," Bahçeli said.

"There is no Kurdish problem; [it is just] a game being played against Turkey, ” Bahçeli added.

“The government is planning to release the İmralı butcher [outlawed Kurdish Workers’ Party leader Abdullah Öcalan]. He will first be sent into house arrest and will then be released,” he said.

The congress is continuing throughout the day.

Health Officials probe MHP congress

Officials from the Ministry of Health have raided the MHP congress, following claims on social media that a number of people were smoking inside the congress hall, according to daily Hürriyet. An investigation concerning the matter will be launched if it is deemed necessary.

Smoking in closed spaces is banned in Turkey, according to a law passed in 2008.