Nationalist Party

In the 1930s and 1940s, under the influence of Italian fascism and German National Socialism , right-wing radical nationalist sentiments began to strengthen in Turkish society. In Turkey, they took the form of pan - Turkism . At the same time, Turanian racism was borrowed from Nazism, and anti-communism and corporatism were taken from fascism.

Such sentiments spread in army circles. A prominent figure in this direction was an army officer Alparslan Türkes . In the fall of 1944 he was brought to justice for the propaganda of racism and fascism ^[1] .

In 1948, Marshal Fevzi Chakmak , well-known politicians Osman Belyukbashi , Enis Aigen , professors Yusuf Hikmet Bayur , Kenan Oner and General Sadyk Aldogan defiantly broke with the center-right Democratic Party and announced the creation of a tougher National Party . In 1954, the party was banned by the decision of the Serious Crimes Court of Ankara for violating the principle of secularism established by Ataturk .

Immediately after the ban, Osman Bülukbashi established the Republican National Party . On October 16, 1958, it teamed up with the Turkish Peasant Party in the Republican Peasant National Party ( CKMP ).

These processes reflected the political consolidation of Turkish extreme nationalists. At that stage, their structures adhered to a conservative and traditionalist ideology.

On May 27, 1960, as a result of a military coup , the government of the Democratic Party, headed by Adnan Menderes, was overthrown. Colonel Türkesh actively participated in the coup. However, far-right radicalism led Turkes to conflict with the new authorities and sending him on a military mission to India .

In 1963, Türkesh returned to Turkey. The following year, he joined the Republican Peasant National Party. On August 1, 1965, Turkes became chairman of the CKMP. Under his leadership, the conservative party changed its character, turning into a right-wing radical. At the congress on February 9, 1969, the CKMP was renamed the Nationalist Movement Party ( Milliyetçi Hareket Partisi , MHP ).

The basic principles of the Party of the Nationalist Movement were laid down by Alparslan Türkesh back in 1965 in the so-called. The Doctrine of the Nine Rays ^[2] : nationalism , idealism , collectivism , agrarianism , scientism , nationality , industrialism , freedom and progress . Such an artificial mixing of contradictory attitudes and theses is traditional for fascist doctrines.

The primary principle was nationalism: the primacy of the values ​​of the Turkish nation, formed on the basis of a mixture of different cultures, an understanding of the Turkish social order as the highest social form, the primacy of the national principle in the state-building process. The party emphasized the principle of territorial integrity and the unitary structure of the Republic of Turkey. Pan-Turkism occupies an important place in the party doctrine: MHP stands for the unification of the Turkic world under the auspices of Turkey.

At the same time, the religious side is in the background, giving priority to the ethnocultural factor. MHP is committed to Islam , but insists on the principle of secularism and tolerance of other faiths and beliefs.

In the field of social relations, the views of Turkes and the ideology of the MHP represent the Turkish version of neo-fascism and the Third Way . Extreme anti-communism is combined with prominent anti-capitalist and egalitarian motives. The principles of collectivism and social justice, included in the party program, are combined with calls for the maximum dissemination of private property, all-round support for small business and corporatist concepts.

In the state-political system, Turkes was a supporter of a strong authoritarian power, capable of consistently pursuing a nationalist policy. He advocated a military dictatorship, then a presidential republic. Paradoxically, the latter installation was adopted - with reference to Turkes - by political opponents of the MHP from the Islamist Justice and Development Party of Recep Tayyip Erdogan ^[3] .

The party of the nationalist movement consists of provincial organizations ( İl Teşkilâtı ), which are divided into district. The supreme organ of the MHP is the Grand Congress ( Büyük Kongre ). Between the Great Congresses, leadership is exercised by the Central Executive Committee ( Merkez Yönetim Kurulu ). The highest oversight body is the Central Disciplinary Committee ( Merkez Disiplin Kurulu ).

The supreme bodies of provincial organizations are the provincial congresses ( İl Kongresi ). The operational management of party organizations is carried out by the provincial executive committees ( İl Yönetim Kurulu ), and the provincial control commissions ( İl Disiplin Kurulu ) exercise control functions. District organizations are led by district congresses ( İlçe Kongresi ), in between - district executive committees ( İlçe Yönetim Kurulu ).

As of the beginning of 2013, the number of the Nationalist Movement Party was 363,393 people ^[4]

A distinctive feature of the structure is the wide powers of the chairman. The founder of the MHP, Alparslan Türkes, was a cult figure in the movement, had the party title Başbuğ - Leader - and made decisions almost single-handedly. After the death of Türkesh on April 4, 1997, the presidency was temporarily held by Mukhittin Cholak (April - June 1997) and Yildirim Tugrul Türkesh Jr. (June - July 1997). On July 6, 1997, the economist Devlet Bahceli was elected chairman of the Nationalist Movement Party, defeating the son of the founder of the party, Yıldırım Tugrul Turkes ^[5] .

The MHP youth organization, Gray Wolves (also known as Ülkücülük , Idealists ), is organized as the militarized wing of the party. “Gray Wolves” is the most radical unit, prone to extremism and violence. In the 1970s, organization militants actively participated in political terror. Mehmet Ali Agja , Abdullah Chatli , Haluk Kardzhi , Oral Celik gained odious fame at the national ^[6] and international ^[7] levels.

1970s Anti-Communism and Gladio

Initially, the electoral results of MHP were very modest. In the parliamentary elections of 1969 and 1973, the party received 3% and 3.4%, respectively, which meant in the first case 1, in the second 3 deputy mandates. But active extra-parliamentary work, especially with young people, small entrepreneurs and lumpenized strata and a general aggravation of the political situation, strengthened the position of ultranationalists. MHP became a coalition partner of the right-wing conservative Justice Party , in 1975 Alparslan Türkesh received the post of Deputy Prime Minister in the government of Suleiman Demirel . (It is interesting at the same time that the Justice Party came from the Democratic Party of the 1950s, and Demirel was the "political heir" of Menderes, in whose overthrow Türkes participated.)

The 1977 election marked a notable rise in the MHP - the party received more than 6.4% of the vote and 16 seats in parliament .

One cannot ignore either the outcome of the Justice Party or the worrying increase in the number of votes cast for the Türkes group, this faithful Hitler’s last-generation ^[8] .

The second half of the 1970s took place in Turkey under the sign of large-scale political violence. The neo-fascists of the MHP, especially the Gray Wolves, actively participated in street clashes with communists and left radicals , as well as in terrorist acts. Between 1976 and 1980 , more than 5 thousand people died in Turkey ^[9] . It is believed that Alparslan Türkesh was at the head of the “ Counterguerilla ” operational system - the Turkish unit of the international anti-communist system Gladio ^[10] .

Nationalists also suffered losses in the course of political terror. So, on May 27, 1980 , the deputy chairman of the MHP, former minister Gün Sazak , was killed by communist militants. ^[11]

The Coup 1980

On September 12, 1980, the command of the Turkish armed forces , led by General Kenan Evren, carried out a coup . Left - wing and right -wing political radicalism was severely suppressed by the military. Alparslan Türkesh (like Suleiman Demirel) was arrested and imprisoned. Political parties, including the MHP, were banned. It should be noted that the policy of the military regime was authoritarian-nationalistic and anti-communist in nature.

The ideology of the party in power, party members in prison.
Agah Oktay Guner , MHP activist in 1980 ^[12]

The second half of the 1980s. Party Reconstruction

Alparslan Türkesh was released from prison in 1985 . The activities of the Party of the Nationalist Movement recovered slowly and gradually. The name was changed twice - Muhafazakar Parti ( Conservative Party , 1983 ), Milliyetçi Çalışma Partisi ( National Labor Party , 1985 ), the party's historical name was restored only in 1993 . Many members of the MHP have moved to right-wing conservative or Islamic organizations.

Türkesh and his supporters were not allowed in the elections of 1983 and 1987 , in 1991 and 1995 they could only participate in the Islamist Welfare Party of Nejmettin Erbakan . In 1991, Alparslan Turkes was again elected to parliament.

1990-2000s. Electoral Dynamics

In the 1995 election, the MHP collected more than 8%, but did not receive representation in parliament.

Successful for the Nationalist Movement Party were the 1999 elections , which took place after the death of Turkesh. Under the leadership of Devlet Bahceli, the MHP came in second with 18% of the vote. ^[13] The MHP joined the government coalition with the center-left Democratic Left Party . Bahceli took over as prime minister in the government of Bulent Ecevit . The strange alliance of the Turkish ultra-right with the Turkish center-left ^[14] reflected common fears of the prospect of an upsurge of Islamists .

The 2002 election brought success to the Islamists. The party of the nationalist movement received only 8.3% of the vote and lost representation in parliament.

In the 2007 election , the MHP improved its position by collecting 14.3% and receiving 71 parliamentary mandates. ^[15]

In the 2011 elections, the Nationalist Movement Party received the support of 13% of voters and retained 53 of the 550 deputy mandates. At that time, MHP was the third most influential political party in Turkey. According to studies, people with secondary education, mostly young men, predominantly vote for nationalists. The party enjoys the greatest influence in Anatolia , the regions of the Black and Aegean Seas ^[16] .

Under the leadership of Devlet Bahceli, the MHP has undergone a notable evolution. The new leader tried several ethno-nationalist motives in favor of geopolitical and social ^[17] . In connection with the deactivation of the communist threat, the importance of anti-communism has objectively decreased. Motives of national unity and integrity, the preservation of Turkish culture (Bahceli is very wary of the project of Turkey’s accession to the European Union ), and tough opposition to separatism , primarily Kurdish, are highlighted . After the capture of Abdullah Ocalan by Turkish special services in February 1999, Bahceli on behalf of the party demanded death by hanging for him ^[18] .

MHP supports Azerbaijan in the confrontation with Armenia , condemning official Ankara’s contacts with Yerevan ^[19] . According to a number of publications, the MHP and the Gray Wolves maintained close contact with General Dudaev and the Chechen separatists . the coat of arms of Ichkeria - the wolf - was proposed to him by representatives of this organization during the visit of the late Chechen leader to Northern Cyprus .

In the 2000s and early 2010s, the Nationalist Movement Party sharply criticized Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his conservative-Islamic Justice and Development Party ( AKP ) for their fiscal policies, foreign policy outlook on the United States , and insufficiently strong support for the Arab Spring . The MHP expressed some sympathy for the Fethullah Gulen movement ^[20] . There was a sharp controversy between Bahcheli and Erdogan, and overt threats were voiced by the MHP leader ^[21] . This confrontation was affected not only by situational competition, but also by the traditional hostility of neo-fascists and clerics ^[22] .

In the 2014 presidential election, the Nationalist Movement Party supported the candidacy of scientist-chemist and diplomat Ekmeleddin Ishanoglu ^[23] . It is characteristic that the far-right nationalists again went to the bloc with the center-left Republicans in the confrontation with the Islamists. However, Iskhanoglu took second place, losing to Erdogan.

The 2015 parliamentary elections strengthened the position of the Nationalist Movement Party. The number of votes cast for the MHP has increased by almost 2 million. The party received the support of 16.3% of voters ^[24] and 80 deputy seats. Party members became part of the interim (before the election) government of Turkey in August 2015 . Bahceli’s new course has been outlined - towards rapprochement with President Erdogan and his AKP.

A stable government majority was not created in parliament, and early elections were held in November 2015. Партия националистического движения понесла электоральные потери: за неё проголосовали 11,9 %, что обеспечило 40 депутатских мест. Стало очевидно, что значительная часть электората MHP отвергает союз с исламистами. Однако Бахчели продолжил взятый курс. Перед Конституционным референдумом 2017 года партия агитировала за принятие поправок к конституции, существенно увеличивавших властных полномочий президента Турции ^[25] .

Сближение Бахчели с Эрдоганом, фактическая поддержка политики исламизации привела к расколу MHP. Последовательные сторонники светского национализма во главе с Мераль Акшенер порвали с Партией националистического движения и учредили Хорошую партию ( IYI ).

На парламентских выборах 2018 года Партия националистического движения выступала в составе Народного альянса , в котором доминировала Партия справедливости и развития. Таким образом, под руководством Бахчели MHP полностью изменила ориентацию и вступила в коалицию с исламистами Эрдогана. На этих выборах MHP получила около 11 % голосов и 49 мандатов (недавно созданная IYI — почти 10 % и 43 мандата) ^[26] .

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