ANKARA (AA) – Members of Turkey’s Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) were in disarray Friday, divided over whether a new court ruling would allow a extraordinary congress to be held this weekend.
Ankara’s 2nd Enforcement Court on Friday reversed an earlier decision by Ankara’s 25th Enforcement Directorate to block any extraordinary congress, which could see a push to replace the MHP leadership.
Speaking to reporters, MHP lawyer Yucel Bulut said that even without a final ruling by the Court of Cassation, where the MHP Central Committee appealed a decision by Ankara’s 12th Civil Court to allow the congress, some members of the party are urging people to attend a congress Sunday.
Bulut described this move as “illegal”, adding that no extraordinary congress can be held due to injunctions by civil courts in Tosya and Gemerek.
Former MHP Deputy Meral Aksener said via Twitter that the extraordinary congress will go ahead Sunday.
Another former MHP deputy, Sinan Ogan, called Friday’s Ankara court ruling “a positive decision, reversing a mistaken direction” and blasted the Gemerek Civil Court as “unauthorized”.
Dissidents within the MHP have approached the courts to force an extraordinary congress in wake of the party’s poor electoral showing in last November’s general election.
A total of 543 delegates had sent a petition to party headquarters demanding an extraordinary congress in the aftermath of the election, which saw the MHP losing its position as the third-largest group in the parliament, falling behind the Peoples’ Democratic Party.
The petition filed at an Ankara court in February also criticized the MHP leadership for not calling an extraordinary general convention. Devlet Bahceli, who has led the party since 1997, has refused the push for an extraordinary congress.
A special committee appointed by the Ankara Civil Court of Peace had given this upcoming Sunday, May 15, as the date for the MHP to hold an extraordinary congress. However, MHP Deputy Chair Oktay Ozturk said on April 29 that an Ankara court had decided to halt the party’s extraordinary congress as a precautionary measure.
Party bylaws ban the election of a new leader at such extraordinary congresses. Party dissidents hope to change such bylaws at the proposed extraordinary congress, which could eventually pave the way for the election of a new party leader.
