Bahçeli reshuffles party posts following his reelection

Elected to the top office of his party for the sixth time following elections held at the party’s ninth ordinary party congress, Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli performed a complete overhaul the party’s managerial lineup.


Primarily appointing deputies to the party’s Central Executive Board (MYK), Bahçeli also opened the party’s doors to some politicians from the Democrat Party (DP) and the Motherland Party (ANAVATAN) who were offended by the recent merger between these two parties. Bahçeli also had room in the party’s management for Timurcan Ulusoy, an Alevi, former Capital Markets Board (SPK) President Doğan Cansızlar and former Energy Market Regulatory Agency (EPDK) President Yusuf Günay. Bahçeli is expected to appoint his former rival Tuğrul Türkeş, former diplomat Deniz Bölükbaşı, Ankara mayoral candidate Mansur Yavaş and former True Path Party (DYP) deputy Celal Adan to the General Administration Board, the party’s highest governing body.
Bahçeli heavily reshuffled his party’s posts. He removed 32 people from their posts, but kept 38 unchanged. Erkan Haberal, the son of Mehmet Haberal, a defendant in the Ergenekon trial, and Enver Toçoğlu, the former secretary-general of the Confederation of the Turkish Labor Unions (Türk-İş), were recruited.

The unchanged members of the 75-member MYK are as follows: Ali Işıklar, Faruk Bal, Tunca Toskay, Metin Çobanoğlu, Sabahattin Çakmakoğlu, Murat Şefkatli, Osman Çakır, Mehmet Ekici, Atilla Kaya, Cihan Paçacı, Bülent Didinmez, Recai Yıldırım, Emin Haluk Ayhan, Ümit Şafak, Kenan Tanrıkulu, Cumali Durmuş, Edip Semih Yalçın, Ertuğrul Kumcuoğlu, Hamit Ayanoğlu, Hamit Homriş, Hasan Özarslan, Hediye Akdere, Kadir Boy, Kamil Erdal Sipahi, Lütfü Türkan, Mehmet Taytan, Metin Ergun, Mustafa Enöz, Mustafa Erdem, Mustafa Mit, Muzaffer Çakmaklı, Münir Kutluata, Osman Durmuş, Reşat Doğru, Süleyman Turan Çirkin, Vedat Bilgin, İsmet Büyükataman and Zeki Ertugay.

The party figures which Bahçeli denied representation in party management included former ministers Gürcan Dağdaş, Meral Akşener and Şuayip Üşenmez as well as former Parliament Speaker Ömer İzgi, who was referred to in a coup journal held by a retired admiral. Many of the MYK members who Bahçeli removed from office for the new term were dissidents. Bahçeli, however, allowed in some figures who are likely to challenge him in the future, including Türkeş, the son of the MHP’s legendary leader Alparslan Türkeş.

Bölükbaşı, Cansızlar, Kürşat Atılgan, Yıldırım, Günay, Haberal, Adan, Ercan Güvenç, Ruhsar Demirel, Pınar Ergenekon, Saime Palancıoğlu, Yavaş, Kemal Çelik, Ahmet Turgut, Toçoğlu and Ulusoy are the primary figures on Bahçeli’s new team.

Although he upped the number of women members from two to five, Bahçeli did not give room to Akşener. The only female MYK member who wears a headscarf managed to keep her position, while Demirel, Ergenekon, Palancıoğlu and Zühal Cafoğlu were new additions.

Bahçeli sets sight on center right

Although he did not appoint the figures he transferred from the center right, such as Dağdaş and Bekir Aksoy, Bahçeli is said to have targeted center-right politicians who were unhappy with the recent merger of the DP and ANAVATAN. In this context, Bahçeli called on former ANAVATAN leader Erkan Mumcu to join his party. He also set up a special team to recruit many former DYP politicians