Good Party leader Akşener says coalition with MHP is 'up to voters'

When asked whether she would consider an alliance with the National Movement Party (MHP) that she was previously a member of, opposition Good Party (İYİ Parti) leader Meral Akşener said that a coalition would be "up to the voters." A recent poll revealed that the Good Party currently receives 9.7 percent of the votes in Turkey.

Friday April 24 2020 03:11 pm

Duvar English

When asked whether she would consider an alliance with the National Movement Party (MHP) that she was previously a member of, opposition Good Party (İYİ Parti) leader Meral Akşener said that a coalition would be "up to the voters."

After spending nearly 15 years in the MHP, Akşener was discharged from the party by leader Devlet Bahçeli himself after leading the opposition movement within the party and running for Bahçeli's position.

"Now the MHP and us, we're separate entities," Akşener said on online broadcaster Haber Global TV. "It's not leaders or administrators that unite political parties, it's the voters."

Akşener's Good Party allied with main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), along with Felicity Party (Saadet) and Democrat Party (DP) in the Nation Alliance for the May 2018 general elections.

However, in the local elections of June 24, 2019, Good Party voters helped elect the then-candidate from main opposition CHP, Ekrem İmamoğlu, Akşener said.

"AKP, MHP, Good Party, Felicity Party voters, even though there was no alliances, helped elect Mister İmamoğlu with 800,000 votes' difference."

When asked about pro-Kurdish Peoples Democratic Party (HDP), Akşener said that Good Party viewed the HDP as an ally of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), considered a terrorist organization by Ankara, the European Union and the United States.

In a recent poll by private data analysts Istanbul Economy Research revealed Good Party - with 9.7 percent - to fall just under the 10 percent threshold, the necessary percentage for a political party to enter the Turkish Parliament.

'No comment' on mafia leader released from prison

Akşener was also asked about the comments of recently-freed mafia leader Alaattin Çakıcı, who said that Akşener had betrayed the founder of MHP, considered to be the "Başbuğ" (leader) of the nationalists.

"The blood and lives of our martyrs will be on the hands of Akşener," Çakıcı had said about the leader before the June 24 local elections.

Akşener said that she had never heard of Çakıcı's comments about herself, and refused to comment on it since she had limited knowledge of the incident.

"As voters, anyone can comment on incidents that cost the public," Akşener said.