21.01.2026 12:22
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will receive MHP Chairman Devlet Bahçeli. The meeting at Beştepe will start at 4:00 PM. The surprise meeting is noteworthy as it comes after Bahçeli's statement, "We are coalition partners, not partners in power."
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will meet with Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Chairman Devlet Bahçeli today in Ankara.
The meeting, which will take place at Beştepe, is scheduled to start at 16:00. It is expected that the latest developments in domestic and foreign policy, as well as current political issues, will be evaluated during the meeting.
Erdoğan and Bahçeli last met on January 9. The meeting, held at Bahçeli's residence in Çankaya, lasted approximately 40 minutes.
WHAT DID BAHÇELİ SAY?
The timing of the Erdoğan-Bahçeli meeting drew attention following the MHP leader's statement in yesterday's group meeting: "The Nationalist Movement Party is a partner of the People's Alliance, but it is not a partner in power."
In that statement that shook the corridors, Bahçeli used the following expressions:
"As you may recall, in my group speech last week, I brought up the issue of raising the lowest pension received by our brothers to a level where they can at least live with dignity, rather than a starvation wage. I repeat this without 'but' or 'however': I stand by my words until the end and I am with our retirees. We do what we say, we explain and take ownership of what we have done. We cannot comprehend the internal conflicts of the CHP, the sources flowing into the corruption and bribery circles, the drug and gambling realms, and their problematic politics. Because our mind and thought are always about Turkey and the Turkish nation. The Nationalist Movement Party is a partner of the People's Alliance, but it is not a partner in power. As a coalition partner, it is our political morality to support the decisions taken by the Presidential Cabinet in good faith for the development of Turkey and for the peace and prosperity of our nation, in line with budgetary possibilities. We are doing this. We are not dealing with trivial matters. We do not listen to the noise of tin cans. As a rooted political party, we are thinking deeply about economic and social issues."