The main opposition candidate of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused Russia of meddling in the Turkish elections. Kemal Kiliçdaroglu has also indicated that if he wins elections on Sunday, he will support NATO expansion. In doing so, he seems to be straining relations between Russia and Erdogan’s Turkey.
Kiliçdaroglu, leader of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), accused Russia on Twitter on Thursday of making deepfake videos and other false material. With this he seems to be responding to an alleged fake sex tape of opposition candidate Muharrem İnce. The video appeared a day before İnce withdrew from the election race. Ince denied that the video influenced his choice, calling the video “fake” and “a conspiracy”.
The 59-year-old Imce leads the Memleket Partisi (Homeland Party) and was far behind in the polls with about 2 percent of the vote. In 2018, İnce was still Erdogan’s main challenger as a CHP candidate. His withdrawal could therefore have a positive effect on Kiliçdaroglu, who now leads the CHP.
$600 million bill
Russia recently helped Erdogan’s Turkish government by deferring the country’s energy bill payments. Turkey may leave a $600 million natural gas bill until 2024. This is a good thing given the economic problems the country is facing. For example, the value of the Turkish lira has halved this year.
“Russia has been a financial life buoy for Turkey in recent months. So ironing it against the hair, raises eyebrows,” says Turkey expert Nick Augusteijn. This is partly due to the tone of the tweet. “He was in Russian and straight to the point, almost blunt,” Augusteijn explains. At the same time, he emphasizes that this kind of muscle language is not strange at election time.
Because of the ties between Russia and Turkey, it may be risky for Kiliçdaroglu to openly provoke Russia with statements about NATO and election meddling. That accusation of interference in the elections is not entirely inconceivable, given the good ties between Erdogan and Putin.
Kremlin denies meddling in elections
The Kremlin denies any interference. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday that the allegations were fabricated and passed on to Kiliçdaroglu by liars. He emphasizes that Russia attaches great importance to ties with Turkey. As a NATO member, Turkey currently chooses the role of mediator between Moscow and Kyiv and has not introduced sanctions against Russia, for example.
Before the Kremlin’s response came out, Kiliçdaroglu told Reuters he wants to maintain friendly relations between the countries. “But we will not allow interference in our internal affairs.”
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2023-05-12 13:54:18
#Challenger #Erdogan #tension #statements #NATO #Russia
