A total of 549 members of the Nationalist Movement Party’s (MHP) Manisa provincial branch have resigned to join former MHP deputy Meral Akşener, who was expelled from the party, in her efforts to establish a new political party.
Arguing that the MHP had lost its mission, 549 members, including former MHP deputies, provincial chairmen, district chairmen and mayors have resigned from the party.
Former MHP provincial chair Tamer Akkal said the MHP is guided by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and had lost its mission despite their attempt to change it.
Former MHP Çanakkale provincial chairman Rıdvan Uz also recently announced that 216 more MHP members, including the former Lapseki and Gökçeada mayors, had resigned from the party and that they would soon submit their resignations to district election commissions.
Former MHP Isparta deputy Süleyman Nevzat Korkmaz also resigned from the MHP to join Akşener’s efforts to form the new party that will be launched in October.
Korkmaz said he resigned from his party due to differing political views from the MHP administration.
After MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli aligned with the AKP and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on several issues, including introducing a presidential system of governance in Turkey following the Nov. 1, 2015 elections, several MHP deputies and political figures either were expelled or resigned from the party due to differences in political views with the party administration.
After adopting a critical stance against Bahçeli and standing as a candidate for party leadership against him, Akşener was expelled by the MHP disciplinary committee in September 2016 by unanimous vote.
Akşener recently announced that a new political party that is to be “neither right, nor left” would be formed under her leadership in the early fall of 2017.