President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was in Istanbul on Friday as a part of his penultimate rallies earlier than Sunday’s elections. In his first stopover, Erdoğan addressed a crowd within the Sultangazi district on the European aspect earlier than heading to Bahçelievler.
The president mentioned some 50,000 individuals convened for the rally, boasting a excessive turnout that has been evident in his previous rallies.
Erdoğan acknowledged that the opposition bloc led by his fundamental rival Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu “acted with the motivation of greed and revenge,” after their previous defeats.
“We can’t settle for this ugliness,” he mentioned, referring to what he known as a smear marketing campaign. With out naming names, Erdoğan mentioned it was the identical energy “that pressured Meral Akşener again to the opposition bloc after she stepped down,” which “pressured Muharrem Ince to withdraw from the candidacy three days earlier than the election.”
Akşener, head of Good Social gathering (IP), had earlier introduced that she would depart the six-party alliance earlier than abruptly altering her thoughts and endorsing Kılıçdaroğlu. Ince, who challenged Erdoğan once more in 2018, resigned from the election race, citing a smearing marketing campaign by the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) in opposition to him, “supported by the opposition.”
Erdoğan accused Kılıçdaroğlu of being a “puppet of that energy,” which noticed him “cheering Qandil,” in reference to the hub of the PKK terrorist group in northern Iraq.
He additionally criticized Kılıçdaroğlu over his claims that Russia interfered in Turkish elections via deep pretend content material. “It’s a disgrace. What are you able to say if I inform you that the USA, Britain and Germany manipulate the elections?” he mentioned.
“They used the identical technique to take over a political get together and used it once more, in opposition to a reputation who challenged me within the final election, from their very own get together,” he mentioned. Erdoğan was referring to the resignation of late CHP Chair Deniz Baykal, who stepped down after a intercourse tape scandal blamed on FETÖ. Kılıçdaroğlu succeeded Baykal as CHP’s chief.
Erdoğan additionally heaped criticism on “the West.” “We’re competing in opposition to these making an attempt to disrupt the ‘Century of Türkiye,’” he mentioned, referring to his bold imaginative and prescient of a sequence of megaprojects and reforms within the centenary of the Republic of Türkiye. “Magazines have covers studying ‘Erdoğan should go.’ It’s none of your small business. The West can’t resolve it. It’s as much as my nation,” he added.
London-based weekly The Economist drew the ire of the president’s supporters earlier this month with a canopy calling for a victory for the opposition. The quilt with the title “The Most Necessary Election of 2023” was adorned with tags “Save Democracy” and “Erdoğan Should Go.”
The weekly claimed Erdoğan’s defeat would present “democrats in every single place that strongmen could be overwhelmed.” Earlier this yr, The Economist ran one other anti-Erdoğan cowl titled “Empire” and “Dictatorship.”
The publication’s report accompanying the physique, which reads “Turkey’s Looming Dictatorship,” claimed Türkiye is on the point of a catastrophe as it might go from a “deeply flawed democracy right into a full-blown dictatorship.” The piece, once more conveniently, ignored over 20 years of democratic elections the ruling Justice and Growth Social gathering (AK Social gathering) and its chief Erdoğan simply received, primarily with a landslide victory, with the opposition admitting defeat.
French Le Level and L’Categorical magazines additionally featured anti-Erdoğan covers, with the previous referring to Erdoğan as “the opposite Putin,” whereas L’Categorical related him with the chance of chaos, with subheadings together with relations with Europe, the migrants and the Center East, in addition to his discussions with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Each magazines featured pictures edited to villanize the president.