Ankara Metropolitan Mayor Mansur Yavaş and Istanbul Metropolitan Mayor Ekrem Imamoğlu both rejected opposition Good Party (IP) Chairperson Meral Akşener's call to run for president in the upcoming elections, pledging allegiance to the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) Chairperson Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu.
In a statement released late Friday, the two mayors said they respect the decision of the now five-party opposition bloc to nominate Kılıçdaroğlu as their presidential candidate.
"As the biological child of the CHP and a mayor of the Nation Alliance, I have no doubt that the bloc will grow further with Mr. Kılıçdaroğlu, who represents us at the alliance table in a unified way desired by our nation," Imamoğlu said in his statement.
For his part, Yavaş said he had previously stated that he would not act in defiance of the authority of Kılıçdaroğlu. He noted that he still shares this view and hopes that the Nation Alliance continues to pursue its goals with all of its members.
IP leader Akşener announced on Friday that her party has split from the six-party opposition alliance, saying the CHP's decision to nominate Kılıçdaroğlu as the candidate for the alliance proved to be the point of contention. Akşener said the alliance of the other five parties opposed their proposed candidates – either Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoğlu or Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavaş. She called on either mayor to run for president in a news conference following a meeting with her party's general administrative board.
The Turkish opposition alliance, known as the "table for six," was headed to the final countdown after a lengthy meeting between party leaders on Thursday. The six-party alliance announced after their 12th meeting that they would "share the final statement with the public" on their candidate for the upcoming presidential elections.
Akşener’s news conference was brief but her rhetoric was harsh. “The Good Party was cornered. It was caught between a rock and a hard place. But it won’t be a rubber stamp of this policy (of the opposition alliance),” she said.
The IP chair underlined that they would continue standing against the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government and that their stance has not changed.
