Rallies will continue but incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his rival Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu had the final chance on Wednesday evening to map out their views under a formal election schedule through formal campaign speeches.

Both men appeared before millions on public broadcaster TRT separately, addressing the electorate ahead of Sunday’s second round of presidential elections.

Kılıçdaroğlu was combative, while Erdoğan slammed his opposition and expressed confidence in winning the runoff.

The president began his speech by thanking all the voters regardless of who they voted for, praising the "feast of democracy" on May 14 and emphasizing the high turnout, which ultimately awarded him a 49.5% victory against Kılıçdaroğlu.

"I invite you to stand by your will again on May 28," he said before launching a diatribe against Kılıçdaroğlu.

"We have clearly seen that he had nothing new to say for the future of the country and the nation. The message of the first round is that our nation will not award the governance of this country to a candidate who does not respect its values, walks hand in hand with terrorist groups and promises to bow down to the demands of regional and global powers," the president lashed out.

Erdoğan said the opposition took its defeat in the parliamentary polls and failure in the presidential vote out on the nation, particularly survivors of the Feb. 6 earthquakes, which claimed thousands of lives in Türkiye’s south.

Erdoğan emerged the winner in most earthquake-hit provinces in the first round of elections, to the chagrin of supporters of Kılıçdaroğlu who resorted to hate speech against Erdoğan's voters, accusing them of "ingratitude" after all the aid by Kılıçdaroğlu supporters to the earthquake zone.

"It is our duty to guard the honor of our brothers and sisters who fell victim to the earthquakes. No one can insult a member of this nation because of his/her ethnicity, faith or political choice. We reject this language of politics based on insult on one’s own nation," Erdoğan said in his speech.

The president went on to add that the opposition puts on "a different mask every day during its election campaign" but its supporters, from political party administrators to media members have been blatant in their vanity viewing themselves as superior to the electorate.

"We see how they would act if they are elected. I have no doubt that you will hold them accountable for their ugly behavior and finish this job half completed on May 14," Erdoğan said.

The president said their pledge to the nation was not different from pledges they gave in the past 21 years and it was "uninterrupted conduct of a policy of investment in public services and new projects for the welfare of the citizens and the country."

"We are committed to a new era embracing each of our 85 million citizens and Turkish diaspora abroad and ushering in the growth of Türkiye and strengthening the country. We will resolve the current issues just as we overcame Türkiye’s century-old democratic and development shortcomings in the past 21 years," he said.

The president renewed his pledge to rebuild earthquake-hit provinces and transform cities under disaster risk by building resilient buildings. On the economic side, Erdoğan pledged to rein in rising prices of in-house sales and rents through administrative and criminal regulations and incentives for housing supplies.

"Similarly, we will overcome the rise in food prices affecting the daily lives of people. We have a vision, experience and knowledge, courage and resolve and above all, determination to fulfill our pledges to our nation. We did it before and will do it again," he vowed.

Erdoğan underlined that they were engaged in new efforts to curb the losses inflicted on employees through high inflation, pointing to a recent rise in salaries of public sector workers.

Kılıçdaroğlu, for his part, reiterated his call for a public debate with Erdoğan. "The nation made its choice and now it is just him and me," he said. "Make no mistake. This is not a matter of political parties. This is a matter between two different understandings totally opposite each other," he said.

"I believe you are not afraid of me. Let us talk here in TRT together and answer the questions of journalists and thus, our nation will see which of us can solve their problems and love this country more," Kılıçdaroğlu challenged Erdoğan.

The opposition candidate then fired a salvo of criticism toward Erdoğan, accusing him of "negotiations" with the terrorist group PKK, "plotting against the army" and "admitting 10 million irregular migrants into Türkiye."