In the past few years, many Turkey observers have focused on the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), which is the base of Kurdish nationalism, as the possible vehicle for a meaningful transformation in Turkish politics. These days, however, the party that holds the key to Turkey's political future is the one that lies at the exact opposite end of the political spectrum: the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), which is the base of Turkish nationalism. The ongoing struggle for the leadership of the fourth-largest party in Turkish politics may determine whether President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ambition for total power will come true or not.

The MHP is the party that is least known and noticed by the Western media, for it offers nothing "sexy." It is not interested in minority rights, LGBT freedoms, Islamism or anything that makes sense globally. It rather seems like a very parochial party that supports old-fashioned Turkish nationalism, calls for crushing pro-Kurdish terrorism and adds nothing new. Moreover, its age-old leader Devlet Bahceli, who has been the MHP chairman since 1997, inspires no one.

Yet still there is something that makes the MHP a very important party: It is the only one that can steal votes from Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP). Both parties appeal to right-wing or conservative voters, which for decades have roughly made up some 65% of the Turkish electorate. Meanwhile, the left-wing vote, which again for decades has almost never gone above the 35% barrier, is now shared by the main opposition Republican People's Party and the pro-Kurdish HDP.

What is more newsy is that the MHP is now boiling with the open challenge to Bahceli from three younger, more articulate and more promising politicians: Meral Aksener, Umit Ozdag and Sinan Ogan. Especially Aksener, a female politician who has a successful past in Turkey's center-right politics, seems to be a very promising candidate for lifting up the party.