ISTANBUL – ANSWER. 74 year old Kemal Kilicdarogluwho will be his rival Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the May 14 presidential election, he doesn’t have a particularly good track record in terms of election results.

Since the day he took over the leadership of the Republican People’s Party, he has lost two referendums, three general elections and one presidential election. In addition, defeat in municipal elections is counted. However, the CHP president also has a victory in the 2019 elections, as for the first time his party won in the municipalities of Istanbul and Ankara with mayors elected by him, i.e. Ekrem Imamoglu And Mansour Javas.

These speeches by Mr. Kılıçdaroğlu were one of the main arguments of the President of the Good Party, Meral Axener, who insisted on not running against Mr. Erdogan himself as he believes he will lose. The chairman of the CHP, in his speech immediately after the announcement of his candidacy, promised “changes”.

Alevi

Mr. Kilicdaroglu is the son of a civil servant and Alevis, a group that makes up 15-20% of Turkey’s 85 million population and professes a faith based on Shia, Sufi and Anatolian folk traditions.

He graduated from the Ankara Academy of Economic and Commercial Sciences with a degree in economics. The President of the CHP is well acquainted with the structures of the Turkish state, as he worked in the Ministry of Finance, the General Directorate of Revenue, and also held the position of Director General of the Social Insurance Institute (SSK). Mr. Erdogan continues to “use” the paper to this day, arguing that Kılıçdaroğlu’s mismanagement bankrupted the welfare system.

He was elected CHP MP from Istanbul in the 2002 general election. He was re-elected in 2007 and served as deputy chairman of his party’s faction under Deniz Baykal, the CHP leader at the time. He ran for mayor of Istanbul in 2009. Although he boosted the CHP’s approval rating by 25%, he lost the election.

After the resignation of Deniz Baykal due to a leaked sex tape of him, Kilichdaroglu went unopposed in the CHP leadership race at the 2010 congress and became president.

He reformed the party and sidelined the radical Kemalists, promoting those who adhere to social democratic values.

His election fueled the party’s hopes for a new start, but since then the CHP’s share has not exceeded 25%.

Mr. Kilicdaroglu is believed to have reformed the party and sidelined hardline “Kemalists” who support a hardline version of Kemalism while promoting members who are seen as closer to social democratic values.

“March of Justice”

Nicknamed “Gandhi Kemal” by the Turkish media because of his bespectacled resemblance to Mahatma Gandhi, he sparked public interest in 2017 when he launched the 450-kilometer “March for Justice” from Ankara to Istanbul in response to the arrest of a CHP MP.

However, Mr. Kilicdaroglu, in a strategic move, arranged for the CHP to ally with the Good Party and the Happiness Party in the 2018 general elections, paving the way for success in the local elections next year. This strategy of his was the first step towards delivering a significant blow to Erdogan as the leader of the AKP. The CHP won mayoral elections in Istanbul, Ankara and other cities thanks to the alliance and voter support of a major pro-Kurdish party.

Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu showed that he was playing a tough political game, because despite the departure of Mrs. Aksener from the negotiating table, he said “don’t worry, everything will be as it should be” and the truth is that he managed to lead the president of the Good Party to the table and put the mayors of Istanbul and Ankara under his control, as they will become vice-presidents when he decides.

His detractors acknowledge that Turkey’s “Gandhi” smile often hides the image of the brutal politician he hides inside.

What did he say about Greece?

“The only way to solve the problems between Greece and Turkey is to engage in dialogue and seek peaceful solutions through negotiations. There are two sides: Turkey and Greece. Since Greece is a member of the EU, these problems, which are bilateral in nature, are considered to be problems of Turkey and the EU. It is not right. This approach also does not allow both parties to be equal in solving problems. There is no problem that cannot be solved by discussion.”
11/20/2021

“Until yesterday, the government said: “Greece is on the verge of impoverishment. He was destroyed! Greece is bankrupt.” Base wages in Greece are 2.7 times higher than in Turkey. Who lives in poverty?
24.11.2021

“It is necessary to increase pressure in the Mediterranean and the Aegean. These jobs are not done by taking the ship out and then recalling it saying, “I want Biden to call me.” If you have a soul, take a step beyond the occupied islands and the militarized islands. We will support you!
2.6.2022

“I told him, say a proposal about the occupied islands, but he didn’t even formulate a proposal. Now he behaves differently. The gentleman makes daily sounds in Greece and “don’t annoy me”, “I’m going”, “I’ll do this and that”… If you have to do something, do it, brother. Why do you keep screaming? I know you can’t and you know it too. When the islands were arming, professors, pensioners and politicians said that this was a violation of the Lausanne Treaty, but he did not care. And once they told us “come, come”. And Ecevit said: “Okay, I’m going.” Ecevit and Erbakan left, occupied the Turkish part of Cyprus and the matter was over. Did they scream? They did what was necessary.”
06/28/2022

How much chance do his opponents have against Erdogan?

Kemal Kilicdaroglu’s choice to lead Turkey’s six-party opposition coalition appears to pose the “least threat” to incumbent Recep Tayyip Erdogan, as voters appear to favor him less than the remaining three electoral favorites as the country’s future leader. coalition leadership.

In particular, according to an authoritative poll published by the ORC organization in January, that is, before the election of Kılıçdaroğlu as coalition president, in the dilemma between Kılıçdaroğlu or Erdoğan, 41.8% of respondents voted for the new leader of the opposition, while 42.5% were in favor of Erdoğan, percentages that make “Kemal Gadi” much weaker than those of the also opposition mayor of Ankara, Mansour Yavas, who in the same question scored 49.4% of voters’ preferences compared to Erdogan’s 39.8%.

The survey involved 3,780 people from 45 provinces and was conducted from January 2 to 5. The 74-year-old Kılıçdaroğlu, head of the Republican People’s Party, who was defeated in the 2009 municipal elections where he ran for mayor of Istanbul by then-party candidate Erdogan, is said to be struggling to convince a conservative audience that is not helping the opposition win ruling party voters, and Erdogan systematically criticizes him for his political skills.

Furthermore, in a poll released in November, 56.7% of respondents said they would not vote for Kılıçdaroğlu in a possible election, with only 38.1% saying they would “definitely” support him.

However, the results of the aforementioned polls cannot discount Kılıçdaroğlu’s victory or defeat in the May 14 elections, as his new position in the opposition leadership could convince many to change their minds and support him.
In addition, there are many who, although undecided, say that they “definitely will not support Erdogan.”