Turkish premier meets opposition party chief in Ankara

By Muhammet Emin Avundukluoglu

ANKARA

Prime Minister Binali Yildirim shared details of the ongoing military operation in Syria’s Afrin region with opposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahceli during their meeting in the parliament in capital Ankara on Tuesday.

Speaking to journalists following their meeting, Yildirim said he also congratulated Bahceli on his success on getting reelected as MHP leader during the party's 12th ordinary congress on March 18.

He said the MHP leader was “closely following the national issues, fight against terrorism, the works made in Afrin, and the works to be done against all kind of terror organizations."

He added: "We have shared the up-to-date information with him."

On Jan. 8, Bahceli announced that his party would support the Turkish President and leader of ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in the 2019 presidential election instead of fielding its own presidential candidate.

Ahead of a constitutional referendum in April 2017, both the AK Party and MHP had campaigned for the sweeping package of changes.

In the referendum, Turkish voters approved a package of constitutional changes handing wide-ranging executive powers to the president and also allowing the president to retain ties to a political party.

The MHP has also worked with the AK Party on foreign policy issues, particularly since the July 2016 defeated coup orchestrated by the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), which martyred 250 people and injured some 2,200 others.

Next year's elections will be Turkey's first under the new presidential system of government. Parliamentary and presidential elections are to take place in November 2019. Local elections are scheduled for March 2019.