Patriotic Party will not support CHP in second round

Chairman of the neo-nationalist Patriotic Party (VP) Doğu Perinçek has announced that his party will not support main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) candidate Muharrem İnce if he successfully qualifies for the second round.

İnce had previously urged his supporters to give signatures for Perinçek, who had to collect 100,000 signatures to enter the presidential election race, since his party does not have a parliamentary group to nominate him as a candidate.

Speaking at the party headquarters yesterday, Perinçek slammed İnce's visit to pro-PKK Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş in Edirne prison, saying his party cannot support such a person in the presidential elections.

"We will not support those who back PKK supporters or Gülenist Terror Group supporters. Who is Selahattin Demirtaş? The PKK's man," Perinçek said.

İnce visited Demirtaş on Wednesday, who is serving his sentence in northwestern Edirne. "I am not going to alienate anyone. I want to make an appointment with all the presidential candidates in the opposition when we start the campaign," İnce said before the visit.

In November 2016, 13 HDP lawmakers were arrested, and 10 of them, including HDP's co-chairs Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ, remain in custody awaiting trial on charges related to membership, leadership and committing crimes for the PKK terrorist group.