“Turkish Opposition Holds Summit Talks Ahead of Decisive Presidential Election”

The Turkish opposition today held summit talks ahead of the decisive round of the presidential election. Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the centre-left Republican People’s Party (CHP) opposition candidate, performed much worse than they had hoped last weekend. That is why the opposition is now thinking about a new strategy.

Kilicdaroglu (74) met with five other leaders of opposition parties about a new approach to defeat President Erdogan. The popular mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu, is reportedly getting a much bigger role in the campaign.

Kilicdaroglu performed worse in the first round than the polls had predicted. According to the official result, he received 44.9 percent of the vote and President Erdogan received 49.5 percent. The opposition leader is said to have fired his PR team after this.

There will be a decisive election round on May 28, because none of the candidates received more than half of the votes.

Today, Kilicdaroglu called President Erdogan a “fake world leader” who is “steered by Russia”.

Erdogan today thanked his “dear friend” President Vladimir Putin for extending the grain deal with Ukraine. The deal was extended for two months today. In the run-up to the last round of elections, the extension is a diplomatic victory for Erdogan.