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Nationalist Movement Party Milliyetçi Hareket Partisi | |
|---|---|
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| Abbreviation | MHP |
| President | Devlet Bahçeli |
| General Secretary | İsmet Büyükataman [tr] |
| Founder | Alparslan Türkeş |
| Founded | 9 February 1969; 56 years ago (1969-02-09) 24 January 1993; 32 years ago (1993-01-24) (re-establishment) |
| Preceded by | Republican Villagers Nation Party |
| Headquarters | Ehlibeyt Mh. Ceyhun Atuf Kansu Cd No:128, 06105Ankara, Turkey |
| Youth wing | Grey Wolves |
| Paramilitary wing | Grey Wolves (1969–1980)[6] |
| Labour wing | Confederation of Nationalist Trade Unions of Turkey (MİSK) |
| Membership(2025) |  497,428[7] |
| Ideology | |
| Political position | Far-right[39] |
| National affiliation | People's Alliance |
| Colours | Red and grey (official) Ruby red (customary) |
| Slogan | Ülkenin Geleceğine Oy Ver ('Vote for the Country's Future') |
| Grand National Assembly | 47 / 600 |
| Provinces | 8 / 51 |
| District municipalities | 112 / 973 |
| Belde Municipalities | 98 / 390 |
| Provincial councilors | 207 / 1,282 |
| Municipal Assemblies | 2,715 / 20,953 |
| Party flag | |
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| Website | |
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TheNationalist Movement Party, or alternatively translated asNationalist Action Party (Turkish:Milliyetçi Hareket Partisi,MHP), is afar-right,ultranationalistpolitical party in Turkey. The party isneo-fascist and has been linked to violent paramilitaries andorganized crime groups. The party's youth wing is theGrey Wolves (Bozkurtlar) organization, which is also known as the "Nationalist Hearths" (Ülkü Ocakları) which played one of the biggest roles during thepolitical violence in Turkey in the 1970s.[citation needed]
The party was formed in 1969 by formerTurkish Army colonelAlparslan Türkeş,[40] who had become leader of theRepublican Villagers Nation Party (CKMP) in 1965. He founded the party after criticizing theRepublican People's Party (CHP) for moving too far away from the nationalist principles of their founderMustafa Kemal Atatürk, claiming that he would not have founded the MHP had the CHP not deviated from Atatürk's ideology.[41] The party mainly followed aPan-Turkist andTurkish nationalist political agenda throughout the latter half of the 20th century. The MHP won enough seats in the1973 and1977 general election to take part in the "NationalistFront" governments during the 1970s. The party was banned following the1980 coup, but reestablished with its original name in 1993. After participating in acoalition government, in the2002 general election, the MHP fell below the 10%election threshold and lost all of its parliamentary representation after the newly formedJustice and Development Party (AKP) won a plurality.
After the2007 general election, in which the MHP won back its parliamentary representation used to be fiercely critical of the governing AKP over government corruption and authoritarianism. Nevertheless, the MHP has often been referred to by critics as the "AKP's lifeline", having covertly helped the AKP in situations such as the2007 presidential election, repealing theheadscarf ban, and theJune–July 2015 parliamentary speaker elections.[42] Since 2016, Bahçeli and the MHP has beena key ally ofErdoğan and the AKP. This caused aschism within the party, resulting inMeral Akşener and other prominent members leaving MHP to found the anti-ErdoğanistİYİ Party. MHP currently supportsa minority government led by the AKP.
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In 1965, nationalist politician and ex-Colonel Alparslan Türkeş, who had trained in theUnited States forNATO, founded theTurkish GladioSpecial Warfare Department, gained control of the conservative ruralRepublican Villagers Nation Party (Turkish:Cumhuriyetçi Köylü Millet Partisi, CKMP). During an Extraordinary Great Congress held atAdana in Turkey on 1969, Türkeş changed the name of the party to the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and with the support ofDündar Taşer, a party logo depicting the three crescent was elected.[43]
The MHP embraced Turkish nationalism, and under the leadership of Türkeş, militias connected to the party were responsible forassassinating numerousleft-wing intellectuals and academics, including some Kurds, during the 1970s.[44] The leader of the party's youth wing, known as theGrey Wolves after Turkicmythology, claimed that they had an intelligence organization that was superior to the state's own.[45]
On the other hand, MHP had links to theAydınlar Ocağı (AO; "Hearth of Intellectuals"), aright-wingthink tank launched in 1970 by established university professors, which served as a connecting link betweensecular-conservative, nationalist and Islamic rightists, promoting the ideology of Turkish-Islamic synthesis. AO's ideas, which have been compared to those of theFrenchNouvelle Droite, had a determining influence on MHP's programmes and served to lend the far-right party a more legitimate, respectable appearance.[46]
The MHP won enough seats in the1973 and1977 general election to take part in the "NationalistFront" governments during the 1970s. The party infiltrated the bureaucracy during these governments during the height of thepolitical violence between rightists and leftists. On 27 May 1980, the party's deputy leader and former government ministerGün Sazak was assassinated by members of theMarxist–Leninist militant groupRevolutionary Left (Turkish:Devrimci Sol orDev Sol) in front of his home.[47]
When the Turkish armyseized power on 12 September 1980, in a violentcoup d'état led by GeneralKenan Evren, the party was banned, along with all other active political parties at the time, and many of its leading members were imprisoned. Many party members joined theliberal conservativeMotherland Party[citation needed] or variousIslamist parties. Party member,Agah Oktay Güner, noted that the party's ideology was in power while its members were in prison.
The party was reformed in 1983 under the name "Conservative Party" (Turkish:Muhafazakar Parti). After 1985, however, the name was changed to the "Nationalist Task Party" (Turkish:Milliyetçi Çalışma Partisi) then back again to its former name in 1992.[48][better source needed] In 1993,Muhsin Yazıcıoğlu and five other deputies separated and founded theGreat Union Party, which is an Islamist party.[48]
After Türkeş's death,Devlet Bahçeli waselected his successor. The party won 18% of the vote and 129 seats in the election that followed, in1999, its best ever result. Bahçeli subsequently became Deputy Prime Minister afterentering a coalition with theDemocratic Left Party (DSP) and theMotherland Party (ANAP), though his calls for an early election resulted in the government's collapse in 2002. In the subsequent2002 general election, the MHP fell below the 10%election threshold and lost all of its parliamentary representation after the newly formedJustice and Development Party (AKP) won a plurality.
After the2007 general election, in which the MHP won back its parliamentary representation with 14.27% of the vote, the party has strongly opposed thepeace negotiations between the government and theKurdistan Workers Party and used to be fiercely critical of the governing AKP over government corruption and authoritarianism. Nevertheless, the MHP has often been referred to by critics as the "AKP's lifeline", having covertly helped the AKP in situations such as the2007 presidential election, repealing theheadscarf ban, and theJune–July 2015 parliamentary speaker elections.[42] Since 2015, Bahçeli has been openly supportingErdogan and the AKP. This caused aschism within the party, resulting inMeral Akşener leaving MHP to found the center-rightİYİ Party. The MHP supported a 'Yes' vote in the2017 referendum, and formed thePeople's Alliance electoral pact with the AKP for the2018 Turkish general election.[49] MHP currently supportsa minority government led by the AKP, and has 48 MPs in the Turkish Parliament.[50][51]
The MHP represents theNine-Light doctrine, based onultranationalism shaped byIslam.[52] The MHP is widely described as a neo-fascist party.[56] Since the 1990s it has, under the leadership of Devlet Bahçeli, gradually moderated its programme, turning fromethnic tocultural nationalism andconservatism and stressing the unitary nature of the Turkish state.[59] MHP's mainstream overture has strongly increased its appeal to voters and it has grown to the country's third-strongest party,[60] continuously represented in the National Assembly since 2007 with voter shares well above the 10% threshold. The party has also been described as following the ideology ofIslamokemalism[61] and espousingTurkish–Islamic nationalism.[62]
 | This article needs to beupdated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(September 2025) |
Due to their ideological differences, the MHP is strongly opposed to any form of dialogue with the left-wing pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), which Devlet Bahçeli has often opposed by voting against in Parliament. A notable example was in the June–July 2015 parliamentary speaker elections, where the MHP declared that they would not support any candidate and cast blank votes after the HDP announced support for the Republican People's Party (CHP) candidateDeniz Baykal. The MHP also ruled out any prospect of a coalition government that receives support from the HDP after theJune 2015 general election resulted in ahung parliament, even rejecting CHP leaderKemal Kılıçdaroğlu's offer of Bahçeli becoming Prime Minister in such a coalition.[63] MHP deputy leaderCelal Adan claimed that 'even using our party's name in the same sentence as the HDP will be counted as cruelty by us.'[64]
The party strongly opposed thepeace negotiations between the government and theKurdistan Workers Party.
In early September 2015, the MHP and the HDP both voted against the newinterim election government ministers from taking their oaths of office, causing speculation of whether the MHP was dropping their harsh stance against the HDP.[65] However, Semih Yalçın downplayed any notions of an alliance between the two parties, stating that "a broken clock will still show the correct time once a day, the HDP can sometimes take a correct decision in Parliament. Showing this as a 'MHP-HDP coalition' is a deliberate diversion."[66] In 2021 Bahçeli has demanded the closure of the HDP in several speeches, a move that is considered un-democratic and authoritarian.[69]
In early 2025, MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli engaged in unprecedented dialogue with the Kurdish-oriented DEM Party, a successor to the HDP, following a call for peace from imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan. This initiative led to a ceasefire declaration by the PKK in March 2025.[70] However, Bahçeli has consistently rejected any association with the HDP. He has reiterated calls for the HDP's closure, viewing the party's activities as incompatible with national unity.[71]
During theJune 2015 Turkish general election, the MHP announced a new economic manifesto. The MHP promised to improve the situation of Turkey's working poor by lifting taxes on diesel and fertiliser, raising the net minimum wage to $518, giving a $37 transportation subsidy to every minimum wage worker, and giving those who cannot afford a house an additional $92 per month in rental aid. The MHP said these policies would allow a minimum wage earner living in a big city to earn as much an extra $646 annually.
The MHP stated that their economic policies would create 700,000 jobs, increase the national income per person to $13.3K, and increase exports to $238 billion while keeping annual growth at 5.2 percent between 2016 and 2019, although this did not occur, as theGDP per capita andstandard of living plummeted in Turkey from 12,614USD in 2014 to 9,126 in 2019.[75]
In July 2015, amidsta wave of protests against theXinjiang conflict, MHP-affiliatedÜlkücü attackedSouth Korean tourists on Istanbul'sSultanahmet Square.[76] In an interview with Turkish columnistAhmet Hakan, MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli played the attacks down,[77] stating that "These are young kids. They may have been provoked. Plus, how are you going to differentiate between Korean and Chinese? They both have slanted eyes. Does it really matter?"[78] Bahceli's remarks, including a banner reading "We crave Chinese blood" at the Ülkücü Istanbul headquarters, caused an uproar in both Turkish and international media.[78]
| # | Leader (birth–death) | Portrait | Constituency | Took office | Left office |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alparslan Türkeş (1917–1997) | Ankara (1965) Adana (1969,1973,1977) Yozgat (1991) | 8 February 1969 | 4 April 1997 | |
| – | Muhittin Çolak (acting) | 5 April 1997 | 6 July 1997 | ||
| 2 | Devlet Bahçeli (1948–) | Osmaniye (1999,2007,2011,Jun/Nov 2015,2018) | 6 July 1997 | Incumbent |
| Election date | Party leader | Number of votes received | Percentage of votes | Number of deputies | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1969 | Alparslan Türkeş | 275,091 | 3.03% | 1 / 450 | Opposition |
| 1973 | 362,208 | 3.38% | 3 / 450 | Opposition | |
| 1977 | 951,544 | 6.42% | 16 / 450 | Coalition government | |
| 1983 | Party closed following the1980 Turkish coup d'état and succeeded by theNationalist Task Party (1985–93). MHP was re-established in 1993. | ||||
| 1987 | |||||
| 1991 | |||||
| 1995[79] | Alparslan Türkeş | 2,301,343 | 8.18% | 0 / 550 | Extra-parliamentary opposition |
| 1999[80] | Devlet Bahçeli | 5,606,584 | 17.98% | 129 / 550 | Coalition government |
| 2002[81] | 2,635,787 | 8.36% | 0 / 550 | Extra-parliamentary opposition | |
| 2007[82] | 5,001,869 | 14.27% | 71 / 550 | Opposition | |
| 2011[83] | 5,585,513 | 13.01% | 53 / 550 | Opposition | |
| June 2015 | 7,520,006 | 16.29% | 80 / 550 | Opposition | |
| November 2015 | 5,694,136 | 11.90% | 40 / 550 | Opposition | |
| 2018 | 5,565,331 | 11.10% | 49 / 600 | Providing confidence and supply | |
| 2023 | 5,484,820 | 10.07% | 50 / 600 | Providing confidence and supply | |
| Election date | Party leader | Number of votes received | Percentage of votes | Number of senators |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1973 | Alparslan Türkeş | 114,662 | 2.7% | 0 / 52 |
| 1975 | 170,357 | 3.2% | 0 / 54 | |
| 1977 | 326,967 | 6.8% | 0 / 50 | |
| 1979 | 312,241 | 6.6% | 1 / 50 |
| Election date | Party leader | Provincial council votes | Percentage of votes | Number of municipalities | Map |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1973 | Alparslan Türkeş | 124,367 | 1.25% | 5 / 1,640 | |
| 1977 | 820,212 | 6.66% | 55 / 1,730 | ||
| 1984 | Party closed following the1980 Turkish coup d'état and succeeded by theNationalist Task Party (1985–93). MHP was re-established in 1993. | ||||
| 1989 | |||||
| 1994 | Alparslan Türkeş | 2,248,013 | 7.97% | 118 / 2,710 | |
| 1999 | Devlet Bahçeli | 5,397,033 | 17.15% | 499 / 3,215 | |
| 2004 | 3,372,249 | 10.45% | 247 / 3,193 | ||
| 2009 | 6,386,279 | 15.97% | 483 / 2,903 | ||
| 2014 | 7,907,067 | 17.62% | 166 / 1,351 |  | |
| 2019 | 3,756,245 | 8.12% | 233 / 1,355 |  | |
| 2024 | 3,016,739 | 6.59% | 218 / 1,363 |  | |
The Grey Wolves – The most prominent organization of the violent right wing in Turkey is the Grey Wolves. The Grey Wolves are named for a mythical she-wolf who led ancient Turks to freedom. Its wolf's-head symbol is displayed by MHP members and other nationalists. The Grey Wolves have been implicated in many attacks against leftists, Kurds, Muslim activists, and student organizations. They have also been implicated in attacks supporting theTurkish occupation of Cyprus.Mehmet Ali Ağca, who was convicted ofshooting Pope John Paul II, was a former Grey Wolf.
The European Parliament [...] is concerned by the attempts by theTurkish Government to influence members of theTurkish diaspora in the EU, such as through the Presidency for Turks Abroad and Related Communities (YTB) and theTurkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs (DITIB), which could interfere with democratic processes in some Member States; remains worried that the racist right-wing extremist movement Ülkü Ocakları, also known as the Grey Wolves, which is closely linked to the ruling coalition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), is spreading not only in Turkey but also in EU Member States; calls for the EU and its Member States to examine the possibility of banning their associations in EU countries; calls on the Member States to closely monitor the racist activities of this organisation and to fight back to curtail its influence;
The Grey Wolves, also commonly referred to as the Ülkü Ocakları (Idealist Hearths), are a youth organization with close links to the MHP.Alt URLArchived 1 August 2020 at theWayback Machine
The addition of the YRP brings Erdogan's electoral alliance to four parties, the other three being the Islamic-conservative AKP, the ultranationalist Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and the Great Unity Party (BBP).
..the nationalist-fascist Turkish National Movement Party (MHP).
...the fascist Nationalist Movement Party...
In the 2018 elections, the AKP joined the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) to form the People's Alliance, which won 53 percent of the vote, amounting to 344 seats.
The Grey Wolves are officially called Idealist Hearths (Ulku Ocaklari) and their organisation is affiliated with the far-right Nationalist Movement Party, MHP, which is an ally of the Turkish ruling party.
MHP lideri Türkeş, Ülkü Ocaklarını meşru müdafaa yaptığını söyler. Ülkü Ocakları Genel Başkanı da, 'bizim istihbarat örgütümüz devletin örgütünden güçlüdür' demektedir.Quoted in"Susurluk'ta bütün yollar, devlete uğrayarak CIA'ya çıkar".Kurtuluş Yolu (in Turkish).4 (39). 19 September 2008. Archived fromthe original on 19 May 2009. Retrieved4 November 2008.
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