Devlet Bahçeli, chairman of the ultranationalist Nationalist Action Party (MHP) and main coalition partner of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has confirmed a recent report by journalist İsmail Saymaz. In the report, Saymaz alleged the MHP head proposed a system in which Turkey has two vice presidents, one Kurdish and one Alevi, in a closed door meeting with other party officials.

Kurds and Alevis represent two of Turkey’s largest minority groups.

Following the release of Saymaz’s report, the idea proposed by Bahçeli was criticized by some as resembling Lebanon’s style of government, which splits power between the country’s various religious sects.

In a written response to Saymaz’s report, Bahçeli confirmed the suggestion of Alevi and Kurdish vice presidents while criticizing the comparison to Lebanon:

“At the moment, our ‘Terror-Free Turkey’ initiative is gradually advancing against ethnic and sectarian impositions that exhaust, wear down, sap our energy, and impose exorbitant social and economic costs on our country. During this ongoing process,........

© Medyascope