“We’ll end the job left half accomplished and can win with out succumbing to languor,” Numan Kurtulmuş, deputy chair of the ruling Justice and Improvement Celebration (AK Celebration), mentioned, expressing confidence in a victory within the second spherical of elections on Might 28.
The AK Celebration’s chief, incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, faces Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu of the six-party opposition alliance in Sunday’s elections. In a decent race, Erdoğan secured 49.52% of the vote in opposition to Kılıçdaroğlu’s 44.88%.
Talking to editors-in-chief of newspapers at a gathering in Istanbul on Tuesday, Kurtulmuş hailed the victory of the Individuals’s Alliance led by the AK Celebration in legislative polls and a slender win within the first spherical of the presidential vote. “We’re by no means nervous concerning the runoff’s final result however the win within the first spherical shouldn’t drive us to the languor. As an alternative, we wish to concentrate on the problems at hand by ending this half-completed job,” he mentioned. Kurtulmuş mentioned the runoff can be between “world chief” Erdoğan and Kılıçdaroğlu, “who at all times contradicts himself.”
“Now we have confidence within the sagacity of the voters,” Kurtulmuş said.
“They claimed that the AK Celebration wouldn’t settle for the outcomes if it misplaced, however quite the opposite, it was the opposition that would not settle for the outcomes. Sixty-seven p.c of the Turkish public voted for the AK Celebration a few times up to now elections. We’re speaking about an ideal power. President Erdoğan has a vote potential far above 49.5%,” he said.
Kurtulmuş additionally highlighted that they have been analyzing the election leads to each province and district to look at the causes of the rise and fall of the vote in sure locations. He additionally pressured that the voters was not discerning when it got here to voting for the Individuals’s Alliance and that finally, the alliance “gained” within the parliamentary polls.
On the supporters of the Peoples’ Democratic Celebration (HDP), which was seen as a “kingmaker” within the elections with a predicted vote of 13%-14%, Kurtulmuş mentioned the outcomes confirmed that it the estimate was “unreal.” “It’s not a celebration of your entire Türkiye because the outcomes confirmed. The HDP by no means needed to be a key get together. It didn’t distance itself from the terrorist group (PKK) and couldn’t be a ‘savior’ of Kurdish folks,” he mentioned. The HDP, which ran within the legislative vote underneath the identify Inexperienced Left Celebration (YSP), endorsed Kılıçdaroğlu within the first spherical however discovered its voter base had decreased.
Kurtulmuş additionally predicted that the opposition bloc united in opposition to Erdoğan would disintegrate after the runoff. “Kılıçdaroğlu may also stay in his seat as head of the Republican Individuals’s Celebration (CHP). He can be held accountable for 38 lawmakers (from different events who ran on the CHP listing within the legislative polls). He handed out candidacies to 4 events to safe his candidacy, however he failed. Their unity will finish after the election. They weren’t very united earlier than the elections anyway. I don’t recall seeing them on the identical web page your entire time earlier than the election,” he mentioned.
Kılıçdaroğlu’s principal pledge is the elimination of the present government presidency system, however Kurtulmuş mentioned that the difficulty of “bringing again the parliamentary system and prime ministry” was closed “till 2028” (the subsequent election date). “However we are able to debate the 50+1 system within the presidential election; we are able to overview it,” he mentioned. He was referring to a system the place any candidate who wins yet another vote than 50% might be declared the winner of the presidential election, lowering the opportunity of the runoff. He mentioned they now had “a colourful parliament” as extra events secured seats in Might 14 elections, although he mentioned some events nonetheless “didn’t have a social base.”
He additionally spoke about Erdoğan’s endorsement by Sinan Oğan, the third candidate within the elections. Kurtulmuş has represented the AK Celebration in talks with Ümit Özdağ, head of the Victory Celebration (ZP), which nominated Oğan for the election as a part of the ATA Alliance. Erdoğan had earlier held discussions with Oğan, however Kurtulmuş mentioned there was no bargaining course of with Oğan for his assist. “The talks have been merely on rules,” he mentioned. On his assembly with Özdağ, Kurtulmuş mentioned they’d variations of opinion, notably on refugees. Özdağ advocated the forcible return of refugees in Türkiye, notably Syrians.
Kurtulmuş mentioned Türkiye had been a wonderful host for refugees, particularly among the best hosts on the earth. He additionally dismissed the “defective numbers” the opposition usually voices concerning the refugees. “Now we have about 5 million refugees, together with 4 million Syrians, not 12 million. So, it is going to be mistaken to imagine that every one of them will go away sooner or later,” he mentioned. Kurtulmuş mentioned there was additionally an financial angle to the difficulty and they need to heed the views of the enterprise world on the matter. “We additionally want to start out normalizing the Syrian regime and folks of Syria. So, we don’t have a timetable available,” he mentioned.
The primary spherical of elections was overshadowed by the Feb. 6 earthquakes that killed hundreds in Türkiye’s south. To the chagrin of the opposition, Erdoğan emerged the winner in most earthquake-hit provinces. Residents of these provinces confronted hate speech for voting for Erdoğan from opposition supporters on social media. “I consider such insults will solely improve the turnout within the earthquake zone,” Kurtulmuş mentioned. Kurtulmuş highlighted that AK Celebration lawmakers, mayors and nongovernmental organizations stayed for days in earthquake-hit areas and have been of nice service. “We didn’t conduct propaganda work there; we simply addressed the wants of residents. After the elections, the earthquake zone will stay our precedence, too,” he mentioned.