People’s Alliance ‘security lock’ of Türkiye, MHP leader says

ANKARA

Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Chair Devlet Bahçeli has dismissed speculation of a rift with the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), describing their alliance as the country’s “security lock.”

“The fate of the MHP and the People’s Alliance is the fate of the nation, the survival of the state and its future,” Bahçeli said on Nov. 11 during his party’s parliamentary group meeting in the capital Ankara.

The partnership with the AKP is “Türkiye’s security lock,” the MHP leader said.

“The People’s Alliance will selflessly shield Türkiye from deadly obstacles and dark ambitions and will build the future. No one will have the strength to block this construction drive. We will work,” he expressed.

The AKP has also previously denied claims of fractures within the alliance.

Bahçeli additionally addressed the ongoing disarmament process of the PKK terrorist organization, expressing confidence that the “terror-free Türkiye” initiative would reach a successful conclusion.

“We are nearing the end of efforts toward a terror-free Türkiye. Our cause is to help Türkiye hold its place at the summit. Our cause is the homeland, the nation — 86 million standing as one,” he said.

The process followed Bahçeli’s remarks at last year’s group meeting urging PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan to call for disarmament. Öcalan subsequently issued such a call, and PKK announced it had begun disarmament in 2025.

In October, PKK said that it was withdrawing all its forces from Türkiye to northern Iraq.

“Whatever they say, the dawn of a terror-free Türkiye will break,” Bahçeli said, adding that the initiative will allow the country Türkiye to get rid of its “burdens.”

“We have no option but to chart the roadmap for the future with the lessons of the past.”