ANKARA (Reuters/Middle East Eye) – Turkey’s anti-immigrant Victory Party leader endorsed opposition presidential candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu on Wednesday to boost the challenger as he aims to make up ground and defeat President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Sunday’s runoff election.
Umit Ozdag, head of the nationalist Victory Party that received 2.2 percent support in the May 14 parliamentary vote, urged supporters to back Kilicdaroglu in the May 28 runoff in which Erdogan seeks to extend his two-decade rule.
“We have decided to support Mr. Kilicdaroglu in the second round of the presidential elections,” Ozdag said at a news conference in Ankara alongside Kilicdaroglu.
The endorsement was meant to counter-balance one that Erdogan received on Monday from Sinan Ogan, the presidential candidate of the far-right alliance led by the Victory Party.
Ogan came in third with 5.2 percent of the presidential vote, behind Erdogan with 49.5 percent and Kilicdaroglu with 44.9 percent.
Analysts say many remain undecided, holding a possible key to victory in the runoff.
Ozdag said that his party and Kilicdaroglu agreed on a plan to send back migrants within a year “in line with international law and human rights.”
Ozdag said he held similar talks with Erdogan’s AK Party (AKP) but decided not to endorse him because their plans did not involve repatriating migrants.
Erdogan’s strong showing in the initial vote confounded pollsters who had said Kilicdaroglu led opinion polls.
His ruling AKP’s coalition won a majority in parliament, giving Erdogan another edge in one of Turkey’s most consequential elections ever. Erdogan has said a vote for him in the runoff is a vote for stability.
Last week, Kilicdaroglu, head of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) and candidate of a six-party alliance, sharpened his tone and vowed to repatriate all migrants once elected.
Turkey is the world’s largest host of refugees.
Kilicdaroglu has also pledged to roll back much of Erdogan’s sweeping changes to Turkish domestic, foreign and economic policies, including reversing an unorthodox economic program to address a cost-of-living crisis.
Furthermore, a video game hosted on Google Play Store in which players attack refugees at the Turkish-Syria border has been condemned as “racist” by Syrians.
The game, Zafer Tourism, has a name similar to a campaign launched by Umit Ozdag’s far-right “Zafer Party,” to raise funds to deport Syrians.
The game’s Turkish developer, Gacrux Game Studio, denied any links to Ozdag.
“Protect your borders. Don’t let them pass. Focus on the target and launch. Leave the rest to the trucks,” reads the game’s summary on the Google Play Store. The aim of the game involves using a catapult to launch refugees attempting to enter Turkey onto trucks.
Some comments condemned the game as racist or “sick”.