Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu also said that he would push for the immediate restart of Turkey’s EU membership negotiations if he wins the election.
Turkey opposition leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu told Financial Times in an interview with the newspaper that he will restore democracy to the country in the event of an election victory.
“Independence of the courts, freedom of the media, freedom of expression, all these must come back. [Etusijalla] will be economy and democracy.”
However, according to Kılıçdaroğlu, the elections will not be completely free or fair, as the administration controls a large part of the media. In addition to this, the sitting president With Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has state funds at his disposal which he can use in his election campaign.
Despite these, according to Kılıçdaroğlu, the United Opposition has the capabilities and means to monitor election processes and challenge ambiguities if they arise.
Kılıçdaroğlu however, warns that Turkey’s top electoral authority could intervene in the election after voting has ended. This happened, for example, in 2019, when the authority annulled the mayoral elections in Istanbul. At that time, the opposition candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu was handily elected mayor of the city. In the re-election, however, he increased his vote share.
“We don’t allow it [vaalien] stealing. We absolutely do not trust Erdoğan or the election authority. This is why we have been working for a year and a half to ensure the security of all polling stations,” Kılıçdaroğlu said.
Kılıçdaroğlu also said that he would push for the immediate restart of Turkey’s EU membership negotiations if he wins the election. On the other hand, he emphasized that Turkey will maintain its economic relations with Russia even after a possible election victory, even if the Russian president Vladimir Putin the decision to invade and occupy Ukraine “is not right”.
Experts predict that next month’s elections will be close on record. The opposition led by Kılıçdaroğlu is in the lead according to most opinion polls, although only by a small margin. It is likely that the presidential election will go to another round.
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