UPDATE - Turkey: Opposition MHP to back Erdogan's reelection

UPDATES WITH MORE QUOTES FROM BAHCELI

By Muhammet Emin Avundukluoglu

ANKARA (AA) - Rather than fielding a presidential candidate of its own in 2019, Turkey’s opposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) will instead back the reelection of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

"The Nationalist Movement Party will not nominate a candidate for the presidential elections," MHP leader Devlet Bahceli told reporters in capital Ankara on Monday.

"The MHP has decided to back President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for the presidential elections," he said.

Bahceli added his party could form an alliance with the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party -- Erdogan’s party -- in the presidential polls.

The move followed other instances of the MHP working with the AK Party on selected issues.

Ahead of a constitutional referendum last April, the two parties campaigned for approval of the sweeping package of changes.

In the referendum, Turkish voters had approved a package of constitutional changes handing wide-ranging executive powers to the president and eliminating the post of prime minister, and also allowing the president to retain ties to a political party.

The MHP has also worked with the AK Party on foreign policy issues, particularly since the July 2016 defeated coup carried out by the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO).

Next year's presidential elections will be Turkey's first under the new presidential system of government.

Bahceli also spoke about his party's stance against the candidacy of former President Abdullah Gul in the 2019 elections.

He said Gul's candidacy was a situation that could not be explained.

"It is good for him not to be agitated by some people," he said.

Gul, a founder of the ruling AK Party, served as president of Turkey between 2007 and 2014.

Before his term as president, Gul also served as prime minister and foreign minister.