Milliyetçi Hareket Partisi

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Milliyetçi Hareket Partisi
The MHP logo
Devlet Bahçeli
Party leader Devlet Bahçeli
founding 1969 by Alparslan Türkeş
Alignment Right-wing extremism
nationalism
tourism
EU skepticism
Colours) Red White
Parliament seats
50/600
Metropolitan municipalities
1/30
mayor
233/1355
Local councils
2819/20745
Provincial Parliaments
188/1272
Government grants 26,547,814.00 TL
(2007)
Number of members 479.199 (February 4, 2020)
Website www.mhp.org.tr

The Milliyetçi Hareket Partisi (short name: MHP ; Turkish for "Party of the Nationalist Movement") is a right-wing extremist party in Turkey . Its chairman has been Devlet Bahçeli since 1997 . The MHP is considered to be the political arm of the “idealists” (Ülkücüler) or “ gray wolves ” of the party founder Alparslan Türkeş .

Since 2018 the party of the nationalist movement has been part of the “ People's Alliance ” electoral alliance with the ruling Muslim-conservative Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi (AKP). With the MHP, the AKP under Erdoğan has the majority in the national parliament.

history

The "Party of the Nationalist Movement" emerged in 1969 from the Cumhuriyetçi Köylü Millet Partisi (CKMP) of Osman Bölükbaşı , which in turn emerged as a split from the Millet Partisi . The founder of the party, Türkeş, was a colonel in the 1960 military coup .

Government participation under Demirel

On March 31, 1975 the MHP became a member of the government coalition of Prime Minister Süleyman Demirel of the Adalet Partisi (AP) together with the Islamist Millî Selamet Partisi (MSP) and the nationalist Cumhuriyetçi Güven Partisi (CGP). Despite political unrest, inflation and the trade deficit, the coalition lasted until the elections in June 1977. In a renewed coalition led by the Adalet Partisi (AP) under Prime Minister Demirel with the Islamist MSP, the MHP was from July 21, 1977 to January 4, 1978 involved.

After the military coup on September 12, 1980 , the MHP and the gray wolves associated with it were banned and the Muhafazakâr Parti (MP) was founded in its place in 1983 . The chairman, Alparslan Türkeş , was brought before a military tribunal and exiled to India . The party was renamed Milliyetçi Çalışma Partisi (MÇP) in 1985 . For the 1991 parliamentary election , she entered into a list connection with the Islamist Refah Partisi (RP). In 1992, after a referendum, she was allowed to use the old name Milliyetçi Hareket Partisi (MHP) again.

Power struggles

In the 1995 parliamentary elections , it failed with 8.2 percent of the vote because of the 10 percent threshold for entry into parliament.

When Alparslan Türkeş died on April 4, 1997, there was a power struggle within the party. There were two camps: One wanted his son Yıldırım Tuğrul Türkeş as the new chairman, while the other wanted Devlet Bahçeli, the former Secretary General of the MHP . Finally, Devlet Bahçeli was elected as the new chairman at an extraordinary party conference. Yıldırım Tuğrul Türkeş resigned from the MHP and founded the Aydınlık Türkiye Partisi (ATP) on February 27, 1997 .

Rainbow coalition under Ecevit

In the parliamentary elections in April 1999 , it became the second strongest party with 18 percent of the vote and had 129 seats in parliament. From May 29, 1999 to March 11, 2003, the MHP is involved in the Bülent Ecevit government with the Democratic Sol Parti (DSP) and the Anavatan Partisi (ANAP). In the elections in November 2002 , the MHP received 8.4% of the vote , a decrease of almost 10%, which is why it failed to pass the 10% hurdle and was not represented in the Turkish parliament . In this election, the “gray wolves” entered the election campaign with a dedicated anti-EU membership program.

Opposition in parliament

Party conference of the MHP 2015

In the early parliamentary election in July 2007 , the MHP received over 5 million votes (around 14.27%). The MHP was thus able to obtain 71 seats in parliament. Before the beginning of the 23rd legislative period, on July 27, 2007, the elected MHP candidate Mehmet Cihat Özönder died in a car accident. Therefore the MHP had 70 instead of 71 seats in parliament. In the provinces of Mersin and Osmaniye , the MHP won a majority of the votes.

In the Turkish parliamentary elections in 2011 the MHP received 5,580,580 votes or 12.99% and 53 seats in the Grand National Assembly . It became the strongest party in Iğdır Province . In the 2014 presidential elections , Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu and the CHP were nominated as a joint opposition candidate. In the Turkish parliamentary elections in June 2015 , it was able to increase its share of the vote slightly to 16.29%, while it fell to 11.90% in the new elections in November of that year , for which Bahçeli because of its strict rejection of any coalitions after the elections in June by numerous Members from the party was held responsible.

Support the AKP

Share of votes in parliamentary elections in Turkey 2018 in percent (by province).

In 2014, the MHP saw itself as a clear opposition to the AKP , and Chairman Bahçeli opposed the presidential system that Erdoğan was aiming for . The reason for the sometimes sharp opposition stance was the peace talks with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), as the MHP has always been committed to a military solution. When this was broken off without result and the armed conflict continued, the approach of the MHP to the AKP followed. In 2016, Erdoğan received Bahçeli's support for a three-fifths majority in parliament in order to bring about a constitutional referendum , which, among other things, provides for the presidential system as a form of government. The run-up to the referendum brought the MHP numerous prominent departures and party expulsions. According to surveys, the vote has also changed the party's electorate: in the referendum, 70% of party supporters are said to have voted against changes to the constitution.

In January 2018, Bahçeli announced that it would not put up its own candidate in the 2018 presidential election , but would support Erdoğan. In addition, the party leader is striving for an electoral alliance with the AKP for the elections until 2024. The electoral alliance is called " People's Alliance ". In the parliamentary elections , the MHP was able to achieve a result of around eleven percent and since then has had the majority in parliament with the AKP.

In the local elections in 2019 , the cooperation with the AKP was continued, which covered 51 provinces and numerous counties. The AKP candidates in 27 of the 30 major cities in the country were supported by the MHP by not nominating their own candidates. In return, the AKP did not run for mayor elections in Manisa , Adana and Mersin, among others . The nationwide result of 7.31% meant a loss of about 10 percent; however, the MHP was able to record a significant increase in votes in the interior of the country or in more rural areas. So you could win the office of mayor against the AKP in seven cities. Only in Isparta did the opposite occur. In the big cities where the AKP supported it, the MHP only won in Manisa; in Adana and Mersin the CHP had to admit defeat.

Direction dispute and resignations

Since 2015, Meral Akşener in particular has opposed the party chairman, which meant that she was removed from a possible MP before the parliamentary elections in November 2015 . After the election, some leading members of the MHP wanted to hold a party congress with a corresponding new election of the chairman, but this was prevented by a court order. This was also classified as politically motivated outside the MHP. The ruling AKP and the associated Ministry of Justice were accused because the MHP (despite a long-lasting, sharply oppositional view of Erdoğan) was getting closer and closer to the AKP. In the weeks and months that followed, numerous members who opposed Bahçeli and his support for constitutional changes were expelled from the party. For example, former Interior Minister Meral Akşener, Yusuf Halaçoğlu and Şenol Bal left the MHP. Her new political home was İyi Parti , which was founded by Akşener in October 2017.

Program

The MHP fights its election campaign primarily with anti- EU rhetoric and agitation against the PKK. Devlet Bahçeli, chairman of the MHP, threw a rope around himself at public election rallies and promised his supporters to reintroduce the death penalty so that PKK chairman Abdullah Öcalan could be executed. In the party program, the MHP defines its official "main values ​​and principles" as follows:

In May 2006, party chairman Devlet Bahçeli vividly described the worldview of the MHP in a message of greeting.

“I wish the pioneers of the movement, primarily our late leaders Alparslan Türkeş and Hüseyin Nihal Atsız , God's blessings and a long life for the living. [...] Our nation is currently experiencing extremely serious and critical days. There are centers of power at work that, on the one hand, encircle Turkey from the outside, and, on the other, lead it into a crisis from within and want to destroy it ideally. The attacks on the national and indivisible character of the Republic of Turkey are increasing every day. One wants to destroy the institutions that make up our national identity one by one. More and more views are being spread that attack not only our existence as a nation and the material elements of our unity but also our ideal values, our beliefs, our language, history, culture and art. Unfortunately, behind the increase in these aggressive attitudes are people who use artificial and separatist terms such as "of Turkish origin", " constitutional citizenship " and "form a mosaic" to deny national unity and integrity and make ethnic classifications and admixtures. In terms of foreign policy, Turkey wants to be brought to the level of a mere satellite state without its own path, thoughts and interests, a dependent country that can be granted economic privileges and surrenders. [...] The Turkish nation will take its place among the leading states in spite of all obstacles and in spite of the encirclement by pressure and betrayal and with the permission of the Most High. This will be done by the nationalists, the self-sacrificing, suffering, but always noble and dignified children of the nation. "

Extremism discussion

Many scientists classify the MHP as extremist . The main reason for this assessment was the activities of supporters of the MHP in the 1980s, with which Turkey was brought to the brink of civil war.

  • In 1986, Faruk Şen described the supporters of the MHP as “ neo-fascists ” (Turkey: Land and People. Munich 1986, p. 110).
  • The Turkologist Klaus Kreiser described the Milli Çalışma Partisi in 1991 as “right-wing extremists”. In his book Little History of Turkey from 2003, he describes the MHP's program as “anti-minority”. It is directed "against all people, groups and content classified as 'left'".
  • Udo Steinbach described the MHP in 1996 as an “extremist group”.
  • Harald Schüler (1998) connects MHP activists with “acts of violence by paramilitary commandos or mafia groups”.
  • According to Peter Davies and Paul Jackson (2008), the MHP has moderated its program and rhetoric somewhat since the 1990s under the leadership of Devlet Bahçeli. So it no longer represents ethnic nationalism, but a cultural nationalism and conservatism. At least externally, the party accepts the rules of parliamentary democracy. Some authors, however, doubt whether this turnaround is serious and credible and suspect the MHP of only hiding its fascist agenda behind a more moderate and democratic facade.

In any case, the opening of the MHP to the mainstream has led to a significant increase in the proportion of voters: it has been in the Grand National Assembly without interruption since 2007 and has been well above the 10 percent threshold in every election.

Organization in Europe

The " Federation of Turkish-Democratic Idealist Associations in Germany " with the abbreviation ADÜTDF has been a European organization of the MHP since 1978. In Germany alone there are around 170 Türk Federasyon associations with around 7,000 members. Between July 25, 2014 and April 26, 2015, ADÜTÜF 29 and Avrupa Türk Konfederasyon (ATK) organized 2 election campaign events for the benefit of the Gray Wolf Party in Turkey MHP.

After the presidential and parliamentary elections in Turkey in 2018, there is the impression that Turkey is trying to make the extremist group Gray Wolves acceptable in Germany. Cemal Çetin , chairman of the umbrella organization for gray wolves ADÜTDF in Europe and newly elected member of the MHP, was a member of the Turkish delegation at the NATO summit in July 2018 and was photographed with Chancellor Angela Merkel .

Election results

Parliamentary and Senate elections

National Assembly
year Share of the vote Seats space
1969 3.0%
1/550
 6th
1973 3.4%
3/550
 6th
1977 6.4%
16/550
 4th
Senate of the Republic
year Share of the vote Seats space
1973 2.7%
0/550
 6th
1975 3.2%
0/550
 4th
1977 6.8%
0/550
 4th
1979 6.1%
1/550
 4th
year Share of the vote Parliament seats space position
General election 1995 8.2%
0/550
 6th No entry into parliament
General election 1999 18.0%
129/550
 2. government
General election 2002 8.4%
0/550
 4th No entry into parliament
General election 2007 14.3%
71/550
 3. opposition
Parliamentary election 2011 13.0%
52/550
 3. opposition
General election June 2015 16.3%
80/550
 3. opposition
General election November 2015 11.9%
40/550
 3. opposition
General election 2018 11.1%
50/600
 4th MHP-AKP

Presidential election

year Total votes Votes in% Candidate
2014 15,434,167 38.57 Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu (together with the CHP )
2018 (26,330,823) (52.59) no own candidate; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan supports

literature

  • Katy Schröder: Turkey in the shadow of nationalism. An analysis of the political influence of the conservative MHP. BoD GmbH , Norderstedt 2003, ISBN 3-8311-4266-1

Web links

Commons : Nationalist Movement Party  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Current membership numbers . Retrieved February 8, 2020 .
  2. ↑ Turkish nationalism: 'Graue Wölfe' and 'Ülkücü' (idealists) movement for the protection of the constitution of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, page 14 Paragraph: 1.6 Developments in the Ülkücü movement after the death of Türkeş ( Memento from November 30, 2004 in the Internet Archive ), Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution , accessed on February 20, 2008
  3. ↑ Gamze Avcı: The Nationalist Movement Party's Euroscepticism: Party Ideology Meets Strategy . In: South European Society and Politics . September 16, 2011, pp. 435-447. doi : 10.1080 / 13608746.2011.598359 .
  4. ↑ Final official election result ( memento of September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive ), Der Hohe Wahlrat (YSK) , accessed on March 25, 2008
  5. ↑ Meclis bir sandalye eksik kalacak , CNNTÜRK , accessed March 24, 2008
  6. ↑ election result at MSNBC turk.
  7. ↑ Result of the election at secim.aa.com ( Memento of the original from November 3, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / secim.aa.com.tr
  8. ↑ CHP, MHP and HDP destined to remain in opposition . In: DailySabah . ( dailysabah.com [accessed January 12, 2018]).
  9. ↑ moritz.gottsauner-wolf: Erdogan's referendum provides ultra-nationalists against ordeal . ( kurier.at [accessed on January 12, 2018]).
  10. ↑ AKP'nin anketlerinde MHP'lilerin çoğu 'Hayır'cı. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on January 12, 2018 ; accessed on January 12, 2018 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.birgun.net
  11. ^ Backing for Erdogan: Ultra-nationalist party pledges support . In: https://www.merkur.de . January 8, 2018 ( merkur.de [accessed January 12, 2018]).
  12. ↑ Bahçeli AKP'ye desteğini 2024'e uzattı: Seçim sonrası beş yıl sürecek - Diken . In: Diken . January 9, 2018 ( com.tr [accessed January 12, 2018]).
  13. ↑ Sinan Onuş Ankara: MHP'de Meral Akşener sürprizi. Retrieved January 12, 2018 .
  14. ↑ YSK kararını verdi: MHP'de 10 Temmuz'da kongre yapılamaz - Diken . In: Diken . June 28, 2016 ( com.tr [accessed January 12, 2018]).
  15. ↑ Bekir Bozdağ'dan MHP'li muhaliflere cevap | GAZETE VATAN . ( gazetevatan.com [accessed January 12, 2018]).
  16. ↑ moritz.gottsauner-wolf: Erdogan's referendum provides ultra-nationalists against ordeal . ( kurier.at [accessed on January 12, 2018]).
  17. ↑ [1]
  18. ^ Kreiser: Small Turkey Lexicon. Munich 1991, p. 122.
  19. ↑ Kreiser: A Brief History of Turkey. Stuttgart 2003, p. 437.
  20. ↑ Steinbach: Turkey in the 20th century. Difficult partners in Europe. Bergisch Gladbach 1996, p. 184.
  21. ^ Pupil: The Turkish parties and their members. German Orient Institute, Hamburg 1998, p. 109.
  22. ^ Peter Davies, Paul Jackson: The Far Right in Europe. To Encyclopedia. Greenwood, 2008, p. 358
  23. ↑ a b Volker Siefert: Merkel's handshake with the gray wolf. July 21, 2018, accessed October 21, 2018 .
  24. ^ Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution - Right-Wing Extremist Turks. In: verfassungsschutz.de. Retrieved October 21, 2018 .
  25. ↑ German Bundestag Printed Matter 18/5466. German Bundestag, July 3, 2015, pp. 6-7 , accessed on August 2, 2017 .