MHP asks for explanation from Erdoğan on his objection to Fidan’s political career

ANKARA

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Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli has called on President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to voice his justification for why he did not find the country’s top intelligence official’s transition to the political stage appropriate.

Undersecretary of the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) Hakan Fidan was hastily restored to the post he had resigned from to stand in the June elections. Opposition parties said Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu’s reappointment of Fidan late on March 9 as head of the MİT was a result of pressure from Erdoğan, who had opposed Fidan’s decision to run for a parliamentary seat.

“This nation is fed up with ups and downs. The latest example for this took place on the issue of the Undersecretariat of the MİT. What harm did he see in his candidacy? Mr. President needs to explain that,” Bahçeli told reporters on March 12, when asked about Fidan’s reappointment.

During debates in the General Assembly on March 11, MHP deputies strongly argued Fidan’s reappointment was not legal.

The appointment of an undersecretary for the MİT is made through approval of the National Security Council (MGK), the MHP’s Deputy Parliamentary Group Chair Yusuf Halaçoğlu said. However, between his resignation from the post and his reappointment to the post, no MGK meeting was held, and thus MGK approval was not given in Fidan’s case, Halaçoğlu said, labeling his reappointment as “unlawful.”

Earlier this week, the MHP already stated it saw the reappointment as a move by Erdoğan to consolidate his power.

“It is clear that President Erdoğan is moving towards the goal of making the MİT in the full sense his back garden, using it for his political interests,” MHP Secretary General İsmet Buyukataman had said in a written statement.