Nationalists support Erdogan in vote for Turkey’s big cities

ISTANBUL – Turkey’s main nationalist party has announced it will support President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s party in three major cities in the upcoming local elections.

The pledge from the Nationalist Movement Party’s head Devlet Bahceli on Saturday comes a month after he said he would not go ahead with an electoral alliance. He said his party would not field candidates in Istanbul, capital Ankara and western Izmir province for the March 31 municipal elections but support the ruling Justice and Development Party.

The nationalists were a key part of Erdogan’s electoral alliance in this summer’s parliamentary and presidential elections, which transformed the country’s ruling system to an executive presidency.

Erdogan thanked Bahceli before he introduced his party’s candidates for 40 of Turkey’s 81 provinces.