The leaders of the five parties that formed an opposition alliance after the departure of the nationalist “Good Party” Menal Axener met on Saturday and reaffirmed their commitment to the principles they adopted ahead of the May presidential election in Turkey.

“The Alliance is determined to continue working in the same direction, based on its founding principles and goals,” the parties said in a statement after a five-hour meeting of their leaders.

Aksener announced on Friday that her party (IYI) is pulling out of the alliance after disagreeing with a proposal from others to elect Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), as its presidential candidate.

She accused other leaders of putting pressure on her party and disobeying the will of the people. She nominated the mayors of Ankara and Istanbul, Mansour Yavas and Ekrem Imamoglu, as candidates. Both with CHP.

The opposition intends to announce on Monday, March 6, its single candidate, who will face outgoing President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the upcoming presidential election.

Erdogan on the Turkish opposition: “We sat down, talked and dispersed”

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has previously commented on the departure of Good Party leader Meral Aksener from the alliance of opposition parties.

“Many months ago we said what would happen. As the Persians say, “they sat, talked and parted.” We said it. This is exactly how it happened,” Erdogan commented to the camera of a Turkish TV channel.

^{According to REUTERS}