Elections in Turkey, Kilicdaroglu attacks Erdogan: He is campaigning with hostility towards refugees

Before the runoff round in Turkey, the new opposition candidate plays the card of nationalization and hostility towards refugees. But Erdogan is calm and confident of victory.

Just before the runoff round in Turkey, the tone is becoming more aggressive. While the government camp seems to be doing everything they can to smear the opposition and portray their presidential candidates as traitors to the country, candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu has launched a counterattack.

"Erdogan, you are the one who negotiated with the terrorists behind closed doors", he declared recently at a rally. "Who are you and where do you get the right to question my patriotism?"

Kilicdaroglu is trying to score points not only with patriotism, but also with hostility towards refugees. His goal is to win the votes of a large group of nationalist voters who are critical of the government.

Kilicdaroglu: With patriotism and hostility towards refugees

For this purpose, Kilicdaroglu is directly attacking his competitor: Erdogan has brought ten million refugees to the country, he claims. If he stays in power, ten million more will come to the country and Turkey's cities will be taken over by refugees, mobsters and drug lords.

Kilicdaroglu has repeatedly stated that if he comes to power, he intends to return all refugees to their countries of origin. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), about four million refugees live in Turkey.

Manipulated electoral plates

Supporters of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan are using fake news against opposition candidates. Numerous manipulated posters for the opposition party CHP (Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi), the largest opposition party in Turkey, are circulating on the Internet. These are distributed by members and supporters of the ruling AKP party.

Even before the first round on May 14, there was fake news about the Turkish opposition, but according to observers before the second round, the fakes have become more extensive and systematic.

Relatively calm Erdogan

Ndërsa opozita po shton tonet agresive dhe radikale Erdogani shprehet plot besim. “Shokë dhe miq të mi të çmuar”, shkroi 69-vjeçari në Twitter, “ne kemi përpara zgjedhjet më kritike në historinë tonë.[…] Unë kam besim te ju”.

Për herë të parë në më shumë se 20 vjet opozita shpresonte t’i jepte fund sistemit Erdogan në zgjedhjet e 14 majit. Shumica e sondazheve parashikonte që zgjedhjet do t’i fitonte Kiliçdaroglu, prandaj zhgënjimi tek mbështetësit e opozitës është edhe më i madh.

In the first round of presidential elections, none of the candidates achieved an absolute majority. The opposition candidate Kilicdaroglu won almost 45 percent of the votes, while his alliance "Alanca e Kombit" won 35 percent. It now has 213 seats in Parliament. Both Kilicdaroglu and the "Nation Alliance" received far fewer votes than they predicted.

And the current president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, only failed to get an absolute majority with 49.5 percent. However, his electoral alliance secured with 322 out of 600 seats in the Parliament, a parliamentary majority for another five years. Therefore, Erdogan is going to the runoff with a strong support behind him./DW