The MHP was founded in 1969, or rather, changed its name from the Republican Villager Nation Party (CKMP) in a convention that year. The CKMP was founded by Alparslan Türkeş, a military officer who fell out with the junta regime that seized power in 1960. The party held a two-day convention on Feb. 8-9, 1969, that concluded with the name change and adoption of three crescents as its emblem. It is the longest-surviving nationalist party in Turkish politics.

Four years after the name change, the party secured two seats in the government founded in 1973. It further expanded its clout by securing 16 seats at the Parliament in the 1977 elections and joining the coalition government led by Prime Minister Süleyman Demirel.

The MHP shared the fate of other parties after the 1980 coup and was shut down while its leader, Alparslan Türkeş, was banned from politics. As other parties did, it went on to change its name again, this time to the Nationalist Workers Party (MÇP) in 1985. The party switched back to the MHP name in 1993, four years before the passing of Türkeş. The incumbent chair, Devlet Bahçeli, defeated Türkeş’s son Tuğrul in the 1997 intraparty elections and has served in this capacity since then. Under Bahçeli, the MHP increased its votes and became the second party after the Democratic Left Party (DSP) in the 1999 elections, leading to a coalition government between the DSP, MHP and Motherland Party (ANAP). The party’s votes, however, skydived in the 2002 elections, where it failed to win any seats in Parliament. It was only in 2007 that it returned to Parliament with 71 seats. Since then, it gradually increased the number of seats with successive electoral victories.

2015 was another breaking point for the MHP, after the death of Türkeş. Three prominent figures of the party sought “change” after the 2015 elections and challenged Bahçeli to a new intraparty election. Bahçeli rejected the bid, paving the way for a split. Bahçeli’s opponents in the party, led by Meral Akşener, went on to found the Good Party (IP).

Initially wary of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), the MHP decided to side with them after the July 15, 2016 coup attempt by the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) sought to topple the AK Party government. Bahçeli openly supported the executive presidency system for Türkiye and constitutional changes stipulated in a referendum proposed by the AK Party. The MHP’s support for AK Party chair and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan took another turn when it agreed to form the People’s Alliance with the AK Party in the 2018 elections. The party’s votes declined after the formation of the alliance but it managed to secure 10.07% of the vote in the 2023 general elections. Currently, the MHP retains 47 seats at Parliament.