Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahceli held his annual press breakfast at the Sheraton Hotel in December 2006, meeting with journalists at a gathering decorated with Turkish and MHP flags and portraits of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, former MHP leader Abdullah Turkes, and Bahceli himself. The event followed the party's general congress and board elections, with parliamentary elections scheduled for 2007.
Bahceli spent roughly 23 minutes answering the first question of the session, which concerned the possibility of early elections and potential defections from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) to the MHP. He argued that early elections should take place before the presidential vote expected in May 2007, so that a newly elected parliament could choose the next president.
He cautioned that if the AKP attempted to install its own presidential candidate without first holding elections, Türkiye could face the risk of an undemocratic interim arrangement. He called on former presidents and senior statesmen to act responsibly, and emphasized that secularism remains a foundational principle of the republic.
Bahceli rejected reports of a potential MHP coalition with the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) and raised corruption allegations against Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan as grounds for opposing his candidacy for the presidency.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this wire report, first published in December 2006, in its own words.