ABSTRACT
On July 21, 1977, Gün Sazak, right-hand man to the president of the Milliyetçi Hareket Partisi (Nationalist Action Party, or MHP), was named minister of customs and monopolies in what is known as the Second Nationalist Front government. Upon entering office, he gave ministry posts to party and association activists with whom he had ties. In particular, he set aside 20 or so customs control board posts for young members of the Turkish ultra-right nationalist movement, many of them local or national party leaders or the representatives of ülkücü (nationalist) associations. 1 For several months, they devoted themselves to getting other activists appointed, to facilitating relations between the party and its sections in Europe, to serving as intermediaries between the party’s leadership and the ministry, and turning the latter into an MHP bastion. Ultimately, however, governmental instability would force these ultra-nationalists to leave the ministry. When the government was overthrown in January 1978, the minister stepped down and all board members had to resign. 2 They came to form the group of young party officials responsible for relations with like-minded associations and, in this respect, would become a central element in relations between the party and its environment.
