Three deputies and an influencial member of Turkey's opposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) have been expelled over violating the party rules, the MHP's Disciplinary Board ruled on Friday.
According to a party ruling, Kayseri Deputy Yusuf Halaçoğlu, Balıkesir Deputy İsmail Ok, Isparta Deputy Nuri Okutan and former MHP Deputy Sinan Oğan were expelled after breaking certain provisions of the party's constitution, including those regarding membership duties and responsibilities.
Halaçoğlu, Ok and Okutan have announced that they will work for a "No" result in the upcoming referendum on presidential system, defying their party's decision.
Oğan, a leading party dissident and a candidate for charimanship, was expelled from the party in a unanimous vote by the disciplinary board in August 2015. However, he returned to the party in November following a court ruling in favor of his appeal.
The revolt among MHP members was sparked by the November 2015 general election, where the MHP narrowly got into parliament and won the least number of seats among all parliament's parties, just 40 out of 550.
The party has dismissed former parliamentarian and chairman candidate Meral Akşener and Gaziantep deputy Ümit Özdağ.
MHP dissidents Akşener, Oğan, Özdağ and former deputy Koray Aydın, backed by a significant number of party delegates and provincial heads, have been fighting to remove Chairman Devlet Bahçeli, who has led the MHP for nearly 20 years.
The dissidents tried to call a party congress last year, but they were blocked by the leadership.
