MHP set to vote 'yes' for eternity of Turkish state: Bahçeli

The opposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) will vote 'yes' in the upcoming referendum for the eternity of the Turkish state, the party's leader has said. 

"We will say yes for the people, yes for the state, yes for the republic, yes for the eternity of the Turkish state," Devlet Bahçeli said in a party group meeting in parliament on Feb. 7.

His words came amid criticism from the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) accusing them of being complicit with the ruling Justice and Development Party's (AKP) zealous rush to change the constitution. He said his party remained unchanged in their stance on the presidential system. 

"We say yes to a presidential governance system, not to the presidency. We say yes for a systemic regeneration, to debunk the lies of the CHP, who are supporting a regime change and are standing alongside terrorists," he said. 

Bahçeli stressed on Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım's earlier comments on naysayers, who had said the opponents of the constitutional changes composed of terrorist organizations. 

Bahçeli said the CHP was standing side by side with the outlawed Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK), the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ), Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C), Libertarian Democracy Party (ÖDP), Labor Party (EMEP) and the Communist Party of Turkey. 

"They've asked us why we would say yes. Do we ask them about it? They even asked why we went after the AKP and the president. We are not running after anyone," he said. 

"We are saying yes to the survival of the system, not to a person.  We are not saying yes to a party, an ideology, a segment or a thought, but we are saying yes for the continuity of the...