Court hurdles rule out July 10 congress: MHP leader

By Emin Avundukluoglu

ANKARA (AA) – Judicial hurdles have made holding an extraordinary congress of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) next month as scheduled impossible, said the party’s longtime leader Devlet Bahceli on Tuesday.

Addressing his party's parliamentary group, Bahceli said: "The judicial processes do not allow the holding of our sixth extraordinary congress, which had been set for July 10."

In the capital Ankara, the Cankaya Election Board said on Monday that no congress would be held until a court rules on the June 19 congress where dissident MHP members passed changes to the party bylaws to allow leadership elections at extraordinary congresses. The party leadership called the changes illegal and thus null and void.

Bahceli also said that the changed bylaws would not be in effect at the extraordinary congress due to an Ankara court injunction on them.

"The election of a party leader and the party's central bodies is legally impossible at this stage and under these conditions on July 10," Bahceli added.

The dissidents have been fighting to remove Bahceli, who has led the party for nearly 30 years, following the party’s poor showing in last November’s general elections.

After party dissidents gathered enough delegate signatures to convene an extraordinary congress, in April the 12th Ankara Civil Court of Peace greenlighted the meeting.

Party officials appealed the verdict, and police, armed with conflicting court rulings, prevented a dissident-led congress in Ankara this May.

Turkey’s Supreme Court later upheld a civil court decision greenlighting a June 19 dissident congress.