and supported the candidates nominated by the AKP. Erdoğan stated that he saw this move of the MHP as a 'gesture' and that they will respond. The AKP did not nominate a candidate for mayor in Adana, Mersin, Manisa, Kırklareli and Osmaniye. MHP won the mayorships of Amasya, Kastamonu, Kütahya, Çankırı, Erzincan, Bayburt, Bartın and Karabük provinces. Bahçeli has been re-elected as MHP chairman in the congresses held in 2018 and 2021. Speeches Bahçeli made his most famous speech in 2009, which was the 40th anniversary of the Nationalist Movement Party: Political positions Bahçeli accused Russia of murdering Turkish soldiers, who were shot in an accident by Russian fighter planes in 2017. He said; "Russia shoots our soldiers, then disgusts them. This is a mistaken, shameful, international law said to count". He is critical of the pro-Kurdish Peoples Democratic Party (HDP), which he demands to be banned. When the Constitutional Court turnd down a indictment for the banning of the party, he demanded the closure of the court. Controversies In 2015 a Uyghur-staffed, Turkish-owned Chinese restaurant was assaulted by Turkish nationalists; they also attacked the Dutch consulate, mistaking it for the Russian consulate, and assaulted several South Korean tourists, believing them to be Chinese. Devlet Bahçeli said that the attacks by MHP affiliated Turkish youth on South Korean tourists was "understandable", telling the Turkish news paper Hürriyet that: "What is the difference between a Korean and a Chinese anyway? They both have slitty eyes. Does it make any difference?" After an amassing of Greek and Turkish troops at the border amid rising tensions between the two countries, Bahçeli accused Greek defense minister Panos Kammenos of being mentally ill, proclaiming that he should "visit a clinic" among other insults. Following the recognition of the Armenian Genocide by the German Parliament, has stated that the deportations of Armenians were "absolutely correct" and should be repeated if a similar event occurs. Bahçeli has also glorified the Three Pashas, perpetrators of the Armenian Genocide, on numerous occasions. After Joe Biden became the first US President to officially acknowledge the Armenian genocide on April 24, 2021, Bahçeli threatened Armenians living in Turkey, Turkish leftists, and Turkish citizens who recognized the genocide, with death, stating "When you look at us, we will make sure that you will see Talaat, Enver Pasha, and Mustafa Kemal Atatürk." He also denied that there were any genocides or massacres in