Former presidential candidate Muharrem Ince who launched the "Homeland in A Thousand Days" campaign, announced on Monday that he had tested positive for the coronavirus.
“My coronavirus test was positive. I ask those that were in touch with me to make their test and quarantine themselves,” Ince wrote on Twitter, thanking all those wishing him good health.
As the main opposition party’s candidate in the 2018 Turkish presidential election, Ince received just over 30% of the votes, placing second behind the first-round winner, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, with 53%.
Dissidents accuse CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu of hypocrisy in terms of criticizing Erdoğan for his so-called “one-man rule,” while maintaining a firm grip on his own party. They claim that Kılıçdaroğlu has become a pioneer of the one-man rule as he has failed to step down even though the party has lost numerous elections under his leadership. The dissidents also criticize the party for nominating individuals who seem to contradict party ideology and principles and for failing to hold offenders accountable for their mistakes.
Ince in February stated that he will win the next elections.
Turkey’s daily COVID-19 cases remained above 50,000, according to the Health Ministry on Sunday.
A total of 50,678 cases, including 2,548 symptomatic patients, were confirmed across the country, the data showed.
Turkey’s overall case tally stands at over 3.8 million, while the nationwide death toll has reached 33,939, with 237 fatalities over the past day.
As many as 30,194 more patients in the country won the battle against the virus, bringing the total number of recoveries to over 3.3 million.
