Turkey’s main political oppositionists
2023.03.07 04:41
Turkey’s main political oppositionists
By Ray Johnson
Budrigannews.com – Kemal Kilicdaroglu has been chosen as the opposition alliance’s candidate to challenge Tayyip Erdogan in the upcoming May 14 presidential elections.
In Turkish politics, the following opposition figures are described:
KEMAL KILICDAROGLU, CHP LEADER
Kemal Kilicdaroglu, 74, the leader of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), has been in charge of the center-left, secularist party since 2010. In parliamentary elections, the CHP has failed to close the gap with Erdogan’s AK Party (AKP).
His ability to make the CHP the leading party at the national level has been questioned by critics, whose support ranges from 22% to 26% in general elections. Before entering politics, Kilicdaroglu was a civil servant who ran the social security agency. He is a frequent target of Erdogan’s criticism in speeches. When he led an opposition march from Ankara to Istanbul in 2017 to protest the imprisonment of one of his lawmakers, he raised his profile.
He was in charge of forming an alliance with the nationalist-centrist IYI Party, which helped them win municipal elections in 2019 in Istanbul and Ankara. In 2022, they increased the size of the so-called Nation Alliance and collaborated on the selection of a joint presidential candidate. After agreeing that the mayors of Istanbul and Ankara would run as vice-presidents, Kilicdaroglu has promoted himself as the candidate despite some opposition from the public, particularly from the IYI Party.
MERAL AKSENER, LEADER OF THE IYI PARTY
Meral Aksener, 66, was born on July 18, 1956, and was formerly the interior minister. In recent years, he has gained more prominence as a potential opponent for Erdogan. After attempting unsuccessfully to replace the party’s longtime leader, Devlet Bahceli, she was kicked out of the nationalist MHP in 2016. She established the moderately nationalist Iyi Party in 2017, which has 36 members in the 600-seat parliament and joined forces with the CHP for the 2018 elections.
She targets voters who are nationalist and right-wing, including those who are dissatisfied with the MHP due to its alliance with the AK Party. She has advocated for a return to the parliamentary system, which was abolished under Erdogan in 2018 in favor of a presidential one.
She initially opposed Kilicdaroglu’s candidacy, but after convincing Kilicdaroglu that the mayors of Istanbul and Ankara would serve as vice presidents if the opposition wins the presidential election in May, she rejoined the opposition alliance.
EKREM IMAMOGLU, MAYOR OF ISTANBUL
Ekrem Imamoglu, 52 (born June 4, 1970), a former businessman, rose to prominence in March 2019 when he defeated the AK Party’s candidate in the Istanbul municipal election after serving as CHP mayor for five years. Following the authorities’ annulment of that vote and his more convincing victory in a subsequent election, which dealt a blow to Erdogan’s dominance of Turkish politics, his status as a significant new player in Turkish politics was strengthened.
Imamoglu has been able to successfully win over more conservative voters outside of the CHP’s secularist grassroots with the support of an alliance of opposition parties. He and Erdogan have disagreed at times about things like how to deal with the coronavirus pandemic and plans for a canal that will go through the west of Istanbul.
While he is currently concentrating on running Turkey’s largest city for a term that will last until 2024, he is widely regarded as a potential rival to Erdogan at the national level. He was given a sentence of more than two years in prison in 2022 for insulting public officials. If the verdict is upheld, he will be banned from politics, which some people said was unfair and meant to hurt him politically.
MANSUR YAVAS MAYOR OF ANKARA
Mansur Yavas, a 67-year-old nationalist politician and lawyer who was born on May 23, 1955, defeated the AK Party candidate in the March 2019 Istanbul election as the CHP candidate supported by an opposition alliance. Prior to 2009, he was the nationalist MHP mayor of an Ankara district for ten years. He left the MHP in 2013 and joined the CHP that very year before barely losing the Ankara metropolitan political decision in 2014.
After Yavas received praise for his performance as mayor of Ankara during the coronavirus pandemic, opinion polls have shown that there is a lot of support for him as a potential challenger to Erdogan at the national level. However, polls indicate that he would have trouble gaining support from Kurdish voters.
SELAHATTIN DEMIRTAS, a former HDP leader
Even though he has been in prison since 2016, Selahattin Demirtas, 49, who was the former leader of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democracy Party (HDP) remains a significant figure in Turkish politics. He was born on April 10, 1973. For insulting the president, Demirtas was previously given a sentence of three years in prison.
Now, he is facing a possible life sentence in a trial with more than 100 other HDP politicians who are accused of starting the 2014 protests that resulted in dozens of deaths. He ran for president twice, once in 2014 and once in 2018, both while incarcerated. In 2018, he finished third with 8.40 percent of the vote.
Demirtas’ Twitter account has sent daily political messages to its more than 2 million followers in advance of this year’s elections. Demirtas made it clear last month that he wanted Kilicdaroglu to lead the opposition in Turkey in advance of the elections.
“Go Freedom Alliance and Labour! Go collaborating socialists! Nation Alliance congrats! Bravo, Mr. Kemal! Walk hand in hand!” Even though his party had previously suggested that they might put forward a candidate of their own, Demirtas wrote.
According to polls, the Nation Alliance is unlikely to secure a majority in parliament or a first-round victory in the presidential elections without HDP support.
ALI BABACAN, LEADER OF THE DEVA PARTY
Babacan, 55, was a former deputy prime minister and close ally of Erdogan. In 2019, he left the AKP due to disagreements about the party’s direction. He called for changes to improve democracy and the rule of law and founded the Deva (Remedy) Party. When he was in charge of the economy, foreign investors regarded him favorably as a former economy and foreign minister.
AHMET DAVUTOGLU, LEADER OF THE FUTTURE PARTY
In 2019, Davutoglu, 64, a former prime minister and foreign minister, founded the Gelecek (Future) Party. With the slogan “zero problems with neighbours,” he advocated for a less confrontational foreign policy during the first ten years of the AKP’s rule. Since then, he has criticized the executive presidency’s tendency toward authoritarianism.
