The
Nationalist Movement Party (also translated as 'Nationalist Action Party') (,
MHP), is a
far-right political party in
Turkey.
In the
2002 general elections, the party had lost its 129 seats as it had won only 8.34% of the national vote (2,619,450 votes). In the
2007 general elections, the party won 14.29% of the national vote (5,004,003 votes) with 71 seats becoming the third political group in the
parliament. Turkey's Vote analysis and results with
Turkish Daily News<!-- Bot generated title -->
In the
2011 general elections, the party polled 13.01% (5,585,513 votes) and won 53 seats, remaining the third largest parliamentary group.
History
In 1965, nationalist politician
Alparslan Türkeş gained control of the conservative rural Republican Villagers National Party (, CKMP). During an Extraordinary Great Congress held at
Adana in Turkey on 8–9 February 1969, Türkeş changed the name of the party to the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).
The MHP embraced
Turkish nationalism, and under the leadership of Türkeş, militias connected to the party were responsible for assassinating numerous left-wing intellectuals and academics, including some Kurds, during the 1970s. The leader of the party's youth wing, known as the
Grey Wolves after Turkic mythology, claimed that they had an intelligence organization that was superior to the state's own. Quoted in...
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