Daily Times

ANKARA: Turkish courts on Friday gave conflicting rulings on whether the nationalist opposition can hold a party congress on Sunday which could be crucial to President Tayyip Erdogan’s hopes of winning support for a stronger presidency, broadcasters said. Several hundred members of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) have launched a bid to challenge Devlet Bahceli, leader for much of the last two decades, which would require changing party rules at a special congress they want on May 15. But rallying around its veteran leader, the MHP challenged that decision and an appeals court ruling is still pending. “I call on all our delegates. Our party congress this Sunday will go ahead,” Sinan Ogan, one of the challengers to Bahceli, told Haberturk TV, after an Ankara court upheld an objection to halting the congress. Minutes later, state-broadcaster TRT reported fresh verdicts from two other local courts to halt the meeting. The ruling AK Party is seeking support from the MHP for constitutional changes to increase Erdogan’s powers, but any alliance hinges on whether Bahceli can fight off the bid to oust him.