Erdogan rival pledges to send migrants back in lurch to right ahead of run-off
Turkey’s opposition candidate has pledged to deport all migrants in an apparent attempt to appeal to president Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ultra-nationalist base ahead of a run-off election.
Kemal Kilicdaroglu, a soft-spoken career bureaucrat, was four per cent behind Mr Erdogan in the first round of voting last Sunday despite pre-election surveys predicting a reverse outcome.
In his first public appearance since the disappointing election results, the 74-year old politician on Thursday made migration the new focus of his campaign.
“Erdogan, you have deliberately allowed 10 million refugees to Turkey. You even put Turkish citizenship on sale to get the foreign vote,” Mr Kilicdaroglu claimed, without providing evidence. “I am announcing it here: I will send all refugees back home once I am elected president. Period.”
Previously in his campaign, Mr Kilicdaroglu attacked the incumbent president for cutting a deal with the EU to host Syrian refugees and promised to send them back home within two years following a prospective agreement with Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president, and the UN.
The European Union has paid Turkey close to €10 billion (£8.68bn) since 2011 to host Syrian refugees, making it home to the world’s largest refugee population at 4 million people.
Mr Kilicdaroglu, who is also the leader of the left-wing, secular Republican People’s Party, has been hailed for bringing together six different opposition parties, including moderate Islamists and right-wing politicians to put up the united front to end Mr Erdogan’s two decades in power.
Pro-Kurdish forces
Mr Kilicdaroglu who was endorsed by a jailed former leader of a Kurdish party on Thursday also sought to distance himself from pro-Kurdish forces that have supported him, insisting he “never sat down with terrorist organisations and never will”.
The Kurdish support for his candidacy could be uncomfortable for ultra-nationalist Turkish voters who often tend to view all Kurds as plain terrorists. Turkey watchers say Mr Kilicdaroglu appears to have galvanised all of his support base so he would need to reach out to other groups of voters in order to win.
Mr Kilicdargolu made the remarks before a scheduled meeting with Sinan Ogan, a third presidential candidate who won about 5 per cent last Sunday. The rabidly nationalist politician is expected to formally endorse a candidate in the Turkish elections’ run-off on Friday.
