Turkey: can Kılıçdaroğlu defeat Erdoğan?
The Turkish opposition alliance made up of six parties has agreed on CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu as its joint presidential candidate. The alliance almost split up over the issue on the weekend. Commentators are delighted and relieved.
The president should pack his bags
Website In.gr says there are many signs that Turkish voters will turn against Erdoğan:
“The outlook is getting gloomier by the day for the Turkish president. To the extent that the polls can be relied on at all, they’ve already said he should pack his bags in his palace in Ankara. And the polls are not the only ones telling him to go: even in Turkish stadiums, at the matches of the big football teams, the fans are now shouting slogans, not for their teams or against their opponents, but all of them together against the government. The man is in a situation that could not be worse for a pre-election candidate.”
United for a better democracy
The reconciliation paves the way for a new political system, journalist Taha Akyol writes in the conservative daily Karar:
“If the National Alliance comes to power this time, we will be trying out how the country manages with a ‘multiple leadership’ that has already defined its agenda and reform programme in advance. ... From this perspective, I think Kılıçdaroğlu is the right choice. He has been practising cooperation since 2018. I hope that he won’t fall victim, as Erdoğan did, to the passion for personalising the administration, populism and maximising his own power, always driven by the ambition to win one more election. ... If Kılıçdaroğlu does become intoxicated by power, other party leaders will be able to apply checks and balances to stop him.”
