ANKARA (Reuters/MEE) – A veteran Turkish political leader who has struggled for years to have President Tayyip Erdogan voted out of office says it is “very clear” that his dream is drawing nearer, even as doubts remain about whether he will be the main opposition candidate at presidential elections set for 2023.
In an interview, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), confidently predicted victory at the polls as Turkey suffers economic hardships brought on by Erdogan’s unorthodox monetary policies.
The comments reinforce expectations Kilicdaroglu, 73, will be the presidential candidate of a six-party alliance in elections due by June 2023, though polls show several other opposition figures winning more support.
“Of course, five party leaders pronouncing me as candidate would be an honor. It also means they have trust,” he told Reuters in his office on the 12th floor of the CHP’s headquarters on the outskirts of Ankara.
The six anti-Erdogan party leaders would discuss their candidate later, but first need to agree on economic, social and other policies for their joint platform. It is “very obvious and very clear” that whoever they choose will become president, he said.
Kilicdaroglu said he saw no reason for Turkey’s purchase of Russian S-400 missiles that caused a rift with Washington. He also said he would overhaul the central bank’s leadership if elected.
Meanwhile, popular mayors of Istanbul and Ankara won’t run against Erdogan in the upcoming 2023 presidential elections, Kilicdaroglu said.
Instead, Ankara mayor Mansur Yavas and Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu would continue running the country’s two biggest cities, he added.
Yavas and Imamoglu, both of the CHP, were leading in a recent poll by Metropoll by scoring 60.4 percent and 50.7 percent respectively.
But Kilicdaroglu said, “these surveys are of no importance for today”.
Under his 12-year leadership of the CHP, Kilicdaroglu has moved the party from nationalist Kemalist politics to a more progressive and left-leaning force.
The leader dropped the party’s opposition to the hijab and tried to build bridges with other political movements, such as conservative democrats.