Erdogan’s main rival vows to end ‘authoritarianism’

ISTANBUL, 6 May. (DPA/EP) –

The main Turkish opposition candidate for the Turkish presidential elections, Kemal Kiliçdaroglu, has promised this Saturday during an act in Istanbul with tens of thousands of people that he will put an end to “authoritarianism”.

“You are going to replace an authoritarian government with a democratic path,” proclaimed Kiliçdaroglu, a joint candidate for six opposition political parties and who is competing in the polls with the current president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, with a view to next Sunday’s elections.

This political change would be “a gift to the world.” “We are not going to leave the Turkish Republic in the hands of one man,” she argued before vowing to restore the rule of law and people’s rights.

Erdogan plans to visit Istanbul this Sunday in one of the central acts of the campaign with a view to revalidating his presidency in the midst of a serious economic crisis and after the recent deadly earthquakes that have affected the south of the country.

The speech has been rising in tone to the point that Erdogan has accused the opposition deputies of treason and of supporting terrorism.

This Saturday the outgoing president was in the city of Mersin, in the south of the country, from where he called for a vote of “survival” and against “terrorists”, since he has linked Kiliçdaroglu with the Workers’ Party guerrilla of Kurdistan (PKK). The opposition denies this relationship and has called for calm.