MHP LEADER READYING FOR 2011 ELECTIONS
Goksel Bozkurt

Hurriyet Daily News
Nov 4 2009
Turkey

In drafting his party’s new cadre list at an upcoming general assembly,
the leader of Turkey’s nationalists, Devlet Bahceli, plans to include
the names of figures who were previously involved with other right-wing
parties in an effort to attract votes from parties like the Democrat
Party. He further plans to stage a series of rallies to protest the
government’s Kurdish initiative The ninth general assembly of the
Nationalist Movement Party, or MHP, will be held over the weekend in
Ankara. MHP leader Devlet Bahceli is expected to run as the single
candidate for the leadership of the party during the event.

Bahceli will identify his prospective list of who will carry the
party to the 2011 general elections during the assembly. Bahceli is
also expected to banish around 10 people from the party’s Central
Executive Board, or MYK; these ministers are close to former minister
Koray Aydın, a rival to Bahceli despite not having announced his
candidacy for the party’s leadership.

Three crucial political figures, three sons

In forming the party’s top cadre, Bahceli will give places to
the sons of three important political figures in Turkey in the
MYK. These include Deniz BölukbaÅ~_ı, son of the former founder,
leader and deputy of the Nation Party, or MP, in the 1940s, Osman
BölukbaÅ~_ı. The second is the intellectual Mithat Melen, son of
former Prime Minister Ferit Melen. Another crucial name is Tugrul
TurkeÅ~_, son of Alparslan TurkeÅ~_, the founder and former leader
of the MHP.

Deputies in the MYK

In the MYK, Bahceli plans to include people with civil servant
background as well as people who were formerly affiliated with other
right-wing political parties. Among them are Adana deputy Yılmaz
Tankut, Nigde deputy Mumin Ä°nan and Mersin deputies Behic Celik
and Akif AkkuÅ~_. Bahceli is also expected to include Ä°zmir deputy
Å~^enol Bal in the MYK.

Bal was involved in mediation efforts with Azerbaijani female deputies
when the latter were part of a delegation that visited Parliament in
October to lobby the Turkish government not to reopen its border with
Armenia until a solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh issue is found.

Yozgat deputy Mehmet Ekinci, known for his outburst against Turkey’s
pro-Kurdish Democratic Society’s Party, or DTP, is expected to chair
the MYK.

Bahceli targets right-wing votes

Bahceli also plans to give party management roles to Gurcan DagdaÅ~_,
Bekir Aksoy and Zeki Ertugay, who were previously affiliated with other
right-wing parties. With the move, Bahceli hopes to attract votes from
other rightist parties in the upcoming general elections in 2011 and
especially confront Democrat Party, or DP, leader Husamettin Cindoruk
who is bidding to unite the center-right.

Grey Wolves at rally, not on street

Bahceli shut down the Grey Wolves, the MHP’s ultra-nationalist youth
organization notorious for its violent activities, with a radical
decision in the past. However, violent outbursts of these youth, called
"idealists," are still heard from within the party, thereby putting
the party in a difficult position. When he closed the organization,
Bahceli said idealist youth from the Grey Wolves should be in front of
their computers instead of getting involved in street demonstrations.

Bahceli is preparing to take measures against street demonstrations
that have emerged in reaction to the government’s Kurdish initiative.

He warned the party’s provincial presidents to not allow anyone to
join illegal demonstrations, a point that he will reiterate at the
upcoming general assembly. He is also expected to announce that he
himself will tour Anatolia with a series of legal rallies.

At the events scheduled for after the general assembly, Bahceli will
both criticize the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP’s,
Kurdish initiative and create a platform for the MHP’s angry youth
to demonstrate their reaction at these rallies under the control of
the MHP management itself.
From: Baghdasarian