Yavuz Ağıralioğlu, the Istanbul lawmaker for the third largest opposition Good Party (IP) who announced his resignation on Tuesday, said his criticism of their ally the Republican People’s Party (CHP) harmed his party.
Ağıralioğlu spoke at a news conference on Wednesday, about one week after his scathing criticism of the CHP and its alliance with the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) known for its alignment with the PKK terrorist group.
IP, unlike other members of the six-party bloc, has been vocal in its opposition to the talks with HDP. It also almost left the bloc, when CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu was announced as the bloc’s candidate for the upcoming presidential elections, to the chagrin of the party’s leader Meral Akşener, who preferred one of the two mayors she endorsed for nomination.
At the news conference, Ağıralioğlu said he opposed the efforts to impose a fait accompli on the IP during the candidacy process. He said IP was “blackmailed” into remaining in the bloc. The opposition parties have joined forces to contest incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan who easily defeated the CHP in successive elections in the past two decades, either as prime minister or president, through his Justice and Development Party (AK Party). The six-party bloc adopted a rhetoric that their single goal is simply to unseat Erdoğan, a notion that brings together a diverse array of opposition parties. It aligned IP, a nationalist party founded by former members of current AK Party ally Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) with HDP, described as a “secret member” of the bloc by its critics.
