An official from Türkiye’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) on Sunday lashed out at the six-party opposition alliance for having “no plans regarding democracy, the republic or nation” in the run-up to the presidential and parliamentary polls.
“The only reason they came together is to oppose President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Now seven of them are a plague on the nation,” AK Party Deputy Chair and spokesperson Ömer Çelik said in southern Adana province, from where he is running as a parliamentary candidate for his party on May 14.
Çelik was referring to the frequent criticism the opposition bloc draws for “turning into a seven-party coalition” with the pro-PKK Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) as a secret partner. The party is widely known for its alleged ties to PKK terrorists and is currently in danger of being disbanded.
The bloc’s joint presidential runner Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, also the head of the Republican People's Party (CHP), has been under fire from both partners and opponents alike since embracing the party and pledging to free its leader Selahattin Demirtaş and PKK ringleader Abdullah Öcalan, both facing terrorism charges of various degrees, from jail.
The HDP in return gave him its tacit support last month, which they are expected to publicly announce this week.
Çelik on Sunday further slammed the opposition leader for accusing the AK Party government of stoking ethnic tensions with the Kurdish community for political gain.
“We’re attacking the PKK, terrorist groups but Kılıçdaroğlu is unfortunately out there making very dangerous remarks, accusing us of ‘attacking Kurds.' This is an outright lie. Turks and Kurds share one fate, one past, and one future. No matter our names and identities and sects, the Republic of Türkiye is our shared surname,” Çelik argued.
Pointing out an array of fractions within the alliance that caused multiple public crises in recent months, Çelik said the six parties “do not promise stability.”
“We all saw them quarreling for over a year to settle on a presidential candidate and only to fall apart at the last minute with one of them walking away from the table. Their table became a table of gambling,” Çelik said, alluding to Good Party (IP) leader Meral Akşener’s split from the bloc over her objections to Kılıçdaroğlu’s candidacy.
The IP is the second-biggest member of the Nation Alliance, commonly nicknamed the "table for six," and Akşener’s objections weren’t limited to Kılıçdaroğlu’s presidential run either, as she remains averse to the CHP leader’s collaboration with the HDP.
The alliance is also often censured for promising to reinstate the old political system with a president independent of any political party, wherein they would grant presidential aides – which would amount to a total of seven vice presidents if Kılıçdaroğlu were to win – almost equal authority as the president over each strategic decision.
Erdoğan himself lambasted the concept in the past by saying: “They want a puppet president they will manage. They imagine a commander-in-chief who would serve as an aide to members of the table for six. They want voters to elect an unknown candidate without vision or plans.”
The issue of the president’s authority in this proposed coalition system has sparked criticism from experts who called it a potentially “unconstitutional move” that would likely overcomplicate decision-making processes.
“In such a table, if a matter of emergency for state and the nation was to be discussed and one of them were to storm off in anger, the entire committee would have to wait for that killjoy to return to the table. They wish to subject Türkiye to such a freakish formation because they’re too busy doling out posts to one another rather than the service they would provide for the people,” Çelik concluded.
Over 64 million Turks both at home and abroad will be heading to polls to elect Türkiye’s 13th president and all 600 members of Parliament on May 14.
In addition to Erdoğan and Kılıçdaroğlu, two other candidates, one secularly nationalist and one far-right, are also competing for the top office but the race is likely to be primarily between Erdoğan and Kılıçdaroğlu.
Two opinion polls conducted by Areda survey company in March and April showed 50.8% support for Erdoğan and 43.1% for Kılıçdaroğlu. In the case of a run-off, pollsters also overwhelmingly endorsed Erdoğan, marking some 52.6% for him and 47.4% for Kılıçdaroğlu.