LYUTVI MESTAN AND 5 MPS SUBMITTED APPLICATIONS TO LEAVE MRF PARLIAMENTARY GROUP

On 11th of January, the former chairperson of the liberal Movement for Rights and Freedom (MRF), Lyutvi Mestan and five MPs submitted applications for leaving the MRF Parliamentary group.

They will become independent MPs. For the time being they have no intention to resign from the seats in Parliament despite that their former fellow party members called on them to do so. Mestan has not yet revealed whether he would form a new party or not.

New chairperson of MRF is due to be elected at the party’s national conference in April 2016.

On 24th of December 2015, Lyutvi Mestan was surprisingly stripped of his leadership positions and expelled from the MRF after the honorary chairperson and former long-time leader of the MRF, Ahmed Dogan, publicly criticised him.

Speaking to the press on 7th of January 2016, as what was his first public appearance since he was ousted from the chairmanship of the MRF, Lyutvi Mestan said that he was not intimidated by the way he was treated and was determined to remain in politics.