Emin Avundukluoğlu
19 June 2016•Update: 24 June 2016
By Emin Avundukluoglu
ANKARA
Bucking the party establishment, dissidents in Turkey's opposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) are spearheading an extraordinary congress in the capital Ankara on Sunday.
Dissident delegates hope to change the party bylaws banning leadership elections at extraordinary congresses, and then schedule a new congress to try to oust longstanding Chairman Devlet Bahceli.
Blasting today’s congress as “illegal,” Bahceli has scheduled a competing congress on July 10 to pave the way for elections and another term at the helm.
Bahceli, the party leader since 1997, said that "under no circumstances" should anyone pay attention to today’s congress or the dissidents.
The dissidents, citing the MHP’s poor showing in last year’s elections, are calling for new blood at the top.
The twisted path to today’s congress began in February when a group of dissident MHP members, frustrated when the party rebuffed their call for an extraordinary congress, filed a case with the 12th Ankara Civil Court of Peace.
The court decided in April to appoint trustees to the party and send them to a congress, as the dissidents had gathered 531 signatures out of 1,232 party delegates.
Party officials appealed the verdict, but Ankara courts gave conflicting rulings on May 13, and police prevented a dissident-led congress on May 15.
On May 24, Turkey’s Supreme Court upheld an Ankara civil court decision greenlighting today’s congress.
