ANKARA
Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Tugrul Turkes has objected to his expulsion from his own Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) after he accepted an offer to join the country's interim Cabinet.
The central disciplinary committee of the MHP expelled Turkes from the party on September 5 on disciplinary grounds because he accepted the offer in defiance of his party's instructions not to participate in the interim administration.
The Ankara deputy, Tugrul Turkes, is the son of MHP founder Alparslan Turkes. He was the first Turkish parliamentarian to accept Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu's invitation to join the caretaker government.
Turkes became the deputy prime minister of the new Cabinet that was formed on Aug. 28 in the run-up to the Nov.1 election.
In a letter of protest to the central disciplinary committee of the party, the deputy prime minister objected to his expulsion and wanted the party’s decision to be declared null and void.
"I made my party to be in power. I did not commit a disciplinary act. No one can assert that," he said in the letter.
"It cannot be accepted as a disciplinary act anywhere in the world for a person, who serves as a deputy, to accept a constitutional and national duty," he added.
"By accepting the ministerial duty, I did not participate in any illegal organization," he said.
Turkes was referred to the MHP disciplinary board on Aug. 26 after he accepted the deputy prime minister post.
The provisional government, which will steer Turkey to a rerun of June’s general election on Nov. 1, includes representatives from Davutoglu’s Justice and Development (AK) Party, Turkes and two from Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP).
The Republican People's Party (CHP), the second largest in Turkey’s parliament, had refused to join the interim Cabinet.
