ANKARA (AA) – Turkish police have prevented dissident members of the opposition Nationalist Movement Party’s (MHP) from holding a controversial extraordinary congress in the capital Ankara on Sunday.
Four MHP members, aiming to challenge the party leadership, had insisted Saturday that an extraordinary congress would take place on Sunday despite conflicting court rulings and threats of police intervention.
On Sunday, the entrance of Buyuk Anadolu Hotel, where the congress was to take place, was closed off by police barricades in line reportedly with instructions from the Ankara Governorate.
Hundreds of party members, who were not allowed to enter the hotel, stood in front of a training center belonging to Ministry of Customs and Trade and chanted slogans against the MHP’s head office.
Ozdag, Aydin, Aksener and Ogan have reportedly arrived at the hotel and are expected to make a statement.
MHP deputy Umit Ozdag, and former MPs Koray Aydin, Meral Aksener and Sinan Ogan, have made a push to challenge Devlet Bahceli, who has led the party since 1997.
On Friday, Ankara’s 15th Enforcement Directorate overruled a decision by Ankara’s 2nd Enforcement Court apparently green-lighting the congress.
Party bylaws ban the election of a new leader at such extraordinary congresses. However, 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.
Dissidents within the MHP had approached the courts to force an extraordinary congress in the 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 lose its position as the third largest group in the parliament, falling behind the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP).
