Devlet Bahçeli (born 1 January 1948) is a Turkish politician, economist, former deputy prime minister, and current chairman of the far-right, ultranationalist Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). An academic in economics from Gazi University, Bahçeli is a founder of the Grey Wolves, and was elected as the chairman of the MHP in the first congress held after the death of Alparslan Türkeş in 1997. He entered parliament for the first time in the 1999 general election as a deputy from Osmaniye, taking part as deputy prime minister in DSP-MHP-ANAP coalition between 1999 and 2002, and ultimately brought the government down. He resigned from his position as chairman when his party fell below the 10% electoral threshold in the 2002 general election, but was re-elected chairman in the 2003 congress. Bahçeli and his party have been serving in the Grand National Assembly since regaining their seats in parliament in 2007. Bahçeli was initially a fierce critic of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan throughout the 2000s and 2010s until an interparty crisis occurred following MHP's poor performance in the November 2015 general election. With Bahçeli's newfound closeness to Erdoğan after the crisis, a schism occurred in MHP which culminated in Meral Akşener founding the Good Party in 2017. Bahçeli formed an electoral alliance with the AKP called the People's Alliance for the 2018 general election and maintained this alliance in the 2019 local elections. MHP currently supports president Erdoğan's cabinet with confidence and supply in the Grand National Assembly. Bahçeli has been described as a kingmaker in Turkish politics. Early life Devlet Bahçeli was born on 1 January, 1948, in the rural district of Bahçe in the province of Osmaniye. Bahçeli belonged to a well established Turkmen family known as "Fettahoğulları", and is one of the four children of his family, with two siblings from his father's first marriage. According to Hrant Dink, he also had Armenian ancestry, in spite of his fervently anti-Armenian views. His father, Salih Bahçeli, was one of the well-known farmers and merchants of Osmaniye. His mother's name was Samiye. Devlet's father grew up in a left-wing family, and was a supporter of İsmet İnönü and the Republican People's Party. Education He completed his primary education at 7 Ocak Primary School in his hometown of Osmaniye. Devlet attended secondary school with his elder brother Servet, in Adana Private Çukurova College. He lived with his relatives in İstanbul for his high school