Who will be the candidate of the oppositional Nation’s Alliance for the upcoming presidential elections? This is one of the principal issues occupying Turkey’s political agenda lately. While the Nation’s Alliance comprises six oppositional parties, the People’s Alliance comprises the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), the Nationalist Movement Party, and the Great Union Party (BBP). Regarding the announcement of the presidential candidate of the Nation’s Alliance, the oppositional leaders emphasized that the People’s Alliance had not announced their presidential candidate either.

Speaking at the AK Party’s advisory council in Izmir, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced his presidential candidacy in the upcoming elections in 2023. Responding to the call for early elections by Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the leader of the oppositional Republican People’s Party (CHP), Erdoğan confirmed himself as a presidential candidate. Making his announcement in Izmir, a province where the CHP has strong electoral support, Erdoğan claimed that Kılıçdaroğlu seeks the presidency but refrains from openly declaring himself the presidential candidate of the oppositional front.

Announcing that the presidential elections will take place in mid-June next year, Erdoğan directly challenged Kılıçdaroğlu, saying: "You have no place to hide. The candidate of the People’s Alliance is Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. If you have enough courage, announce your candidacy, or announce your candidate!"

In recent days, many representatives from the Nation’s Alliance expressed their worries about Kılıçdaroğlu’s ethnicity being a hindrance to the electoral triumph of the oppositional front. They implicitly or explicitly claimed that Kılıçdaroğlu’s ethnic and religious identity would weaken the opposition in a potential face-off with Erdoğan.

Regarding this ongoing controversy within the oppositional parties, Erdoğan made a remarkable point in the aforementioned speech in Izmir. Emphasizing Turkey’s success in overcoming the issues of military tutelage, the Kurdish question and the extension of individual rights and liberties, Erdogan announced that if some oppose Kılıçdaroğlu’s presidential candidacy due to his ethnic and religious identity, he will support him in this respect. Thus, Erdoğan criticized the oppositional representatives who adopt a discriminative attitude toward Kılıçdaroğlu due to his ethnic and religious identity.

With his speech, Erdoğan openly opposed any discriminatory and racist discourses during the upcoming presidential elections by ensuring that no one will be discriminated against due to their ethnic or religious identities. Indeed, for a great majority of voters in Turkey, Kılıçdaroğlu’s ethnicity is not at all a hindrance to his presidential candidacy. Those representatives from the oppositional front who worry that Kılıçdaroğlu’s Alevi roots are a hindrance at polls fail to understand that Turkey has long surpassed its ethnic and religious problems. Making a strong stance against such a discriminatory discourse within the oppositional front, Erdoğan once again showed his strong leadership. What the oppositional front lacks are moves to put forward such a strong leader.