May 14. (EUROPE PRESS) –
The Turkish opposition leader Kemal Kiliçdaroglu has cast his vote this Sunday in the Turkish elections, with a call for harmony in an election where he has a great opportunity to unseat the current president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Kiliçdaroglu, leader of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), has deposited his ballot at the Argentine primary school in Ankara, accompanied by his wife, Selvi, amidst shouts of “Kemal, president”, reports the Kronos News portal.
“I offer my most sincere love to my citizens who went to the polls. We have all missed hugs a lot. But, from now on, spring will come, and here it will continue,” he told the media.
The figure of Kiliçdaroglu has been gaining strength in recent months thanks to the support of a coalition made up of six opposition parties and the recent support given to his candidacy by the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP).
The HDP, the target of a harsh campaign of arrests by security forces for its alleged ties to the PKK — including arrests of senior officials and public representatives on “terrorism” charges — initially said it would not present a candidate for the Presidency, paving the way for Kiliçdaroglu, whom in the end he has openly supported.
Kiliçdaroglu, 74, a member of the Alevi minority, has also been one of the most recognizable faces of the Turkish opposition in recent years, especially after leading a nearly month-long march for justice in the country in 2017 that led to one of the biggest shows of force against Erdogan since he came to power.
