Erdoğan invites MHP leader Bahçeli to presidential palace to talk nationalist alliance

Erdoğan invites MHP leader Bahçeli to presidential palace to talk nationalist alliance

ISTANBUL

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Jan. 9 that he has invited longtime Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli to the presidential palace in Ankara for a meeting.

Bahçeli, on the same day, accepted Erdoğan's invitation.

The meeting will be held at the presidential complex on Jan. 10, broadcaster CNN TÜRK reported.

The invite comes after Bahçeli on Jan. 8 declared that he would not be running as a candidate in the presidential election scheduled for 2019, instead rallying behind Erdoğan, the head of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).