Monitoring Desk
ISLAMABAD/ ANKARA: Turkey’s opposition parties have picked Kemal Kilicdaroglu as a joint candidate to run against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the upcoming May elections.
Kilicdaroglu leads the main center-left Republican People’s Party (CHP) Pre-polls indicated a close contest in a country deeply divided after two decades of Erdogan’s authoritarian rule. Erdogan’s mishandling of the last month’s earthquake could make him more vulnerable than in previous elections.
Kilicdaroglu, a former civil servant, was welcomed by a large crowd of supporters after being chosen by a six-party opposition alliance.
“Turkey’s Gandhi” of Opposition
The quiet-spoken 74-year-old is known as “Gandhi Kemal” or “Turkey’s Gandhi” because of his resemblance to Indian civil rights leader Mahatma Gandhi. He offers a vastly different vision in both substance and style to the popular, fiery, and charismatic Erdogan. Some of Kilicdaroglu’s supporters, however, believe he lacks crowd-pulling strength.
Kilicdaroglu promised his supporters that Turkey would be governed by consensus and consultation. He stated that he would return the country to a parliamentary system. Erdogan oversaw the country’s transition to a presidential system in 2018, gaining broad powers.
He told his supporters, “our table is the table of peace and our only goal is to take the country to days of prosperity, peace, and joy.”
The CHP was founded by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey, and is the oldest existing political party, though it has been out of power centrally since the 1990s.
Kilicdaroglu has expanded his appeal by embracing minority groups and forming alliances with right-wing parties. He has also demonstrated a willingness to confront Erdogan, a leader who has grown increasingly intolerant of criticism.
During the February earthquake that killed over 45,000 people in south-eastern Turkey, Kilicdaroglu led attacks on Erdogan’s government, accusing it of allowing corruption and poor building standards.
