- Turkey will hold presidential elections on May 14th
- Opinion polls show that Kilicdaroglu is slightly ahead
- After two decades under Erdogan, Ankara could see new paths
- Kilicdaroglu is backed by an alliance of six opposition parties
ISTANBUL, May 6 (Portal) – Opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu, who has been in Tayyip Erdogan’s shadow throughout his career, believes his time has come to set Turkey on a new path and roll back much of the man’s legacy, who has dominated politics for two decades.
A coalition of six opposition parties has named the serious and sometimes feisty former official as its nominee to fight Erdogan in May 14 elections, seen as perhaps the most momentous in the country’s modern history.
Opinion polls generally show Kilicdaroglu, 74, to have an advantage and possibly win in a second round after an inclusive campaign that promised solutions to a cost-of-living crisis that has eroded the president’s popularity in recent years.
He has promised a return to orthodox economic policies and the parliamentary system of government, the independence of a judiciary critics say Erdogan used to crack down on dissidents, and somewhat smoother relations with the West.
The opposition’s turnaround plan aims to cool inflation, which hit 85% last year, although it is expected to bring financial market turmoil and possibly the latest in a series of currency crashes.
“I know people struggle to make ends meet. I know the cost of living and the hopelessness of young people,” Kilicdaroglu said at a rally last week. “The time for change has come. A new spirit and understanding is needed.”
Critics say Kilicdaroglu – despised by Erdogan after repeated electoral defeats as leader of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) – lacks his opponent’s power to win over audiences and offers no clear vision for a post-Erdogan era.
He wants to build on the opposition’s triumph of 2019, when the CHP, thanks to the support of fellow opposition party voters, defeated Erdogan’s ruling AK Party in local elections in Istanbul and other major cities.
Even if he wins, Kilicdaroglu faces the challenge of holding together an opposition alliance made up of nationalists, Islamists, secularists and liberals. His selection as a candidate came after a 72-hour dispute that saw the leader of the second-largest party, Meral Aksener of IYI, briefly resign.
It “shows a completely opposite picture of Erdogan, who is a polarizing figure and a fighter who is… consolidating his electoral base,” said Birol Baskan, a Turkey-based author and political analyst.
“Kilicdaroglu comes across as much more statesmanlike, trying to unite and reach out to those who don’t vote for them… That’s his magic and very difficult to achieve in Turkey,” he said. “I’m not sure if he will win but he, Kilicdaroglu, is the right character at the right time.”
Polls point to a close presidential and parliamentary vote that will decide not only who will lead Turkey, but what role it could play in defusing conflict in Ukraine and the Middle East.
Many wonder if Kilicdaroglu can defeat Erdogan, the country’s longest-serving leader, whose campaign charisma has contributed to more than a dozen electoral victories.
But analysts say Erdogan is closer than ever to defeat, despite his heavy hand in the media, courts and the government’s record spending on welfare ahead of the vote.
The opposition has stressed that Erdogan’s bid to cut interest rates triggered the inflationary crisis that has wrecked household budgets. The government says the policy has boosted exports and investment under a program to boost lira holdings.
HEAL OLD WOUNDS
Before entering politics, Kilicdaroglu worked in the Ministry of Finance and then headed the Turkish Social Insurance Institution for most of the 1990s. In speeches, Erdogan often denigrates his performance in this role.
A former economist, he became an MP when Erdogan’s AKP first came to power in 2002, representing the centre-left CHP, a party founded by the founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, which has striven to over to reach out to the conservatives beyond their secular base.
However, in recent years he has spoken of the desire to heal old wounds with devout Muslims and Kurds.
Kilicdaroglu rose to prominence as the CHP’s anti-graft activist, appearing on television to brandish dossiers that led to high-profile resignations. A year after losing a mayoral bid in Istanbul, he was unanimously elected party leader in 2010.
At that convention, a campaign song blared through a packed hall, describing him as a “clean and honest” man. Wearing a striped shirt and black blazer, Kilicdaroglu told his supporters: “We come to protect the rights of the poor, the oppressed, the workers and the toilers.”
His election fueled the party’s hopes for a fresh start, but support for the CHP has remained at around 25% since then. Erdogan’s AK party won 43 percent in the last parliamentary elections in 2018.
Still, some say Kilicdaroglu quietly reformed the party, sidelining die-hard “Kemalists” who espoused a rigid version of Atatürk’s ideas, while promoting members seen as more closely aligned with European social-democratic values.
Critics say he failed to bring flexibility to a static CHP and ended up winning out as a presidential candidate against others who ran better against Erdogan.
Born in the eastern province of Tunceli, Kilicdaroglu is an Alevi, a minority group who follow beliefs that draw on Shia, Muslim, Sufi and Anatolian folk traditions.
He openly admitted this on social media last month, trying to ward off any political attacks as Alevi beliefs put them at odds with the country’s Sunni Muslim majority.
Dubbed “Gandhi Kemal” by the Turkish media because he bore a fleeting resemblance to his slender, bespectacled appearance, he captured the public imagination in 2017 when he began his 450km “Justice March” over the arrest of a CHP MP Ankara to Istanbul started .
Last week in the mainly Kurdish city of Van, thousands of people demonstrated for Kilicdaroglu, which has garnered the support of the big pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party despite not being in the main opposition alliance.
“I have been boycotting the elections since 2018, but this time I will vote for Kemal Kilicdaroglu. The rise of radical Islamists motivates me,” said Faruk Yasar, 27, a Kurdish technician in southeastern Batman province.
(This story has been corrected to correct the spelling of Erdogan in the headline.)
Additional reporting by Burcu Karakas and Jonathan Spicer; Editing by Alexandra Hudson
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