Turkish opposition MHP leader slams Erdoğan’s advisors for ‘federal structure’ remarks

ISTANBUL

Devlet Bahçeli, leader of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), has slammed advisors of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for suggesting a federal structure if “yes” votes prevail in the upcoming charter referendum. 

“If advisors are speaking of a states [federal] structure and the president is not ruling this out, then what would the decision of the nationalists, who support a unitary structure, be only two days before the [referendum] said, Bahçeli during a live interview with Nazlı Çelik on private broadcaster NTV late on April 13. 

“If my advisors spoke of a federal system, I would dismiss them,” he said. 

MHP is the sole party in the parliament that backs the ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) constitutional change amendment, which will be put on referendum on April 16 and seeks a shift to an executive presidential system from the current parliamentary one. 

“The state is taking a step to found its own state. Happy April 16,” said Mehmet Uçum, a chief advisor to Erdoğan, with the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) interpreting his words as a suggestion to change the regime. 

Another advisor, Şükrü Karatepe, suggested earlier a Chinese model.