Turkey Opposition Frets Over Challenger to Erdogan in 2023 Polls
(Bloomberg) —
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Cracks appeared in a Turkish opposition alliance hoping to take on President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in polls next year after members of the bloc had a public dispute over who should be their candidate.
Kemal Kilicdaroglu, a member of Turkey’s largest religious Alevi minority and head of the main pro-secular CHP opposition party is seen as a potential candidate from the alliance. But one of his allies questioned whether he can muster the support of Sunni-majority voters crucial to defeating the decades-long rule of Erdogan’s AK Party.
With elections scheduled for next June, Erdogan still has no clear rival.
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“His being an Alevi is not an obstacle for me, because I know him, I know his principles. But the goal in politics is to win,” said Ibrahim Halil Oran, a lawmaker from the IYI Party, referring to Kilicdaroglu.
“If 65% or 70% of Turkey has a conservative profile, a different name would be chosen that can appeal to them,” Oran said in an interview broadcast on social media. Engin Altay, a senior member of Kilicdaroglu’s CHP, dismissed Oral’s concerns.
Alevis, members of an unorthodox offshoot of Shiite Islam, are estimated to make up around one-fifth of Turkey’s population. They have complained of discrimination under Erdogan and his AK Party, which has roots in Sunni Islamist movements. The government has denied discrimination against Alevis.
Kilicdaroglu’s party is buoyed by a 2019 local election victory that ended AK Party’s quarter-century rule over Turkey’s largest city, Istanbul, and its capital of Ankara. The party has formed an alliance with five other parties in the hopes of defeating Erdogan in the parliamentary and presidential elections.
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Another potential presidential hopeful for the opposition, Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, is facing a prison term of as many as four years on charges of insulting election board officials.
Erdogan kicked off his bid for re-election on Thursday. It comes as a cost-of-living crisis and soaring inflation chip away support from his party.
In remarks addressed to Kilicdaroglu, he taunted the opposition to name a challenger. “If you dare, announce your candidacy, or your candidate, this very day.”
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