İYİ Party leader accuses MHP chair of attacking her party

ANKARA

İYİ (Good) Party chair Meral Akşener blamed Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli for attacking her party and sensationalizing the issue.

“Bahçeli is attacking my party, especially me. We are tired of it,” she told reporters on Aug. 5.

“On the other hand, I would like to say that talking about issues that sounds good for political magazines does not fit political courtesy,” she said.

Akşener called on President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan “to take care of your partner instead.” Meanwhile, İYİ Party said they have no intentions to join the People’s Alliance, between the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), and the MHP after calls made by MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli.

“We have no intention to join hands with the People’s Alliance,” İYİ Party spokesperson Yavuz Ağıralioğlu said on Aug. 4 in a written statement.

Bahçeli called on Akşener on Aug. 4 in an attempt to make her quit the opposition party and join hands with the People’s Alliance. A proposal to return to her “home party” the MHP was also made.

Bahçeli told reporters on Aug. 4, that Akşener’s visit and praying at the Hagia Sophia Mosque is evident of her distancing herself from the other members of the opposition Nation’s Alliance.

Constituting Republican People’s Party (CHP) and Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) – connected informally – the Nation’s Alliance rejected the change in the status of the Hagia Sophia, Bahçeli said.

Bahçeli said, “With the chairperson of İYİ Party, Akşener’s visit to the Hagia Sophia, she has distanced herself from her party members.” He further adds, “Ms. Meral will be more peaceful if she comes back to her home” pointing to the MHP party.

Akşener quit the MHP in 2016 after she lost to Bahçeli for the MHP’s leadership. Soon after, she announced the establishment of the İYİ Party on Oct. 25, 2017, and got appointed as its leader.

The MHP entered the June 24 elections as part of the People’s Alliance with the AKP.