Homeland Party Chairman Muharrem Ince said he will not withdraw his candidacy to run in Türkiye’s upcoming presidential elections in May, after hosting main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) Chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu on Wednesday.
In a joint news conference following the meeting, Ince told reporters that he would not withdraw his candidacy.
For his part, Kılıçdaroğlu said he’s trying to extend the members of the opposition Nation Alliance. He noted that they discussed ongoing issues in the country, including the earthquake region, as he thanked Ince for hosting him.
But Ince was not too fond of the meeting and did not hesitate to express his concerns about the opposition alliance. His farewell to Kılıçdaroğlu made headlines as he said: “Thanks for coming. Welcome and goodbye.
“There should be alliances in politics, but these should be based on principles rather than interests,” Ince said, adding that he is strictly against any negotiations on Mustafa Kemal Atatürk – the founder of the republic –. He also said his movement opposes any discussions with terrorist groups and will never make any concessions in this regard.
Ince was referring to the opposition bloc’s tacit cooperation with the pro-PKK Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), which announced that they would not nominate a candidate, implying that they would support Kılıçdaroğlu.
The terrorist PKK group also welcomed Kılıçdaroğlu’s candidacy, saying that the HDP’s stance of supporting the Nation Alliance is valuable, important and meaningful.
Ince appears to be riding a wave of popularity on social media as an alternative to Kılıçdaroğlu.
Ince started his political career in the CHP and was elected as the party’s lawmaker from the Yalova constituency during the 2002 elections. He twice challenged the leadership of Kılıçdaroğlu, in 2014 and 2018, but failed to garner enough votes to defeat him in the CHP’s intra-party election. Yet, Kılıçdaroğlu, whose party repeatedly lost all elections against the AK Party in two decades, nominated him as a contender against Erdoğan in the 2018 presidential elections. Erdoğan secured a landslide victory in the elections while Ince is credited with boosting the CHP’s vote for the first time in decades in such an election, to over 30%. After the post-election fallout with the CHP, Ince went on to establish his own party in 2021.
A total of 36 political parties will compete in the upcoming elections, which are expected to be a tight race between the People’s Alliance and the opposition bloc.
