February 05, 2016•Update: February 05, 2016
By Baris Kilic
ANKARA
Senior figures in Turkey's opposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) are suing their own leadership after a disagreement about a meeting.
A petition filed at an Ankara court on Friday criticizes the MHP management for not calling an extraordinary general meeting.
"The party management did not call the general assembly for an extraordinary meeting in the allotted period according to both Turkish Civil Code and The Political Parties Act," the petition read.
Turkish parliament members Sinan Ogan, Meral Aksener, and Koray Aydin had announced that they would challenge to become the head of MHP following the party's poor showing in the Nov. 1 general election.
Since then, they have been gathering signatures of party members who think they should go for an urgent meeting.
They delivered 543 signatures -- well above the required 245 names -- to MHP headquarters on Jan. 15, saying they would wait 15 days for an answer.
After 20 days, lawyers for the MPs filed a legal petition.
MHP leader Devlet Bahceli, who has led the party since 1997, has so far declined the demand.
The MHP won 40 seats with 11.9 per cent of the vote in the snap election on Nov. 1, 2015 a fall from from 80 seats in the previous June 2015 poll.
