Turkish presidential hopeful reveals conditions to endorse candidate in upcoming runoff

Sinan Oğan, a minor presidential contender who surprised Türkiye with his performance in the country’s groundbreaking elections on May 14, seeks firm assurances to endorse a candidate in the upcoming run-off vote.

“We have some preconditions,” Oğan told German Press Agency (DPA) at his Ankara office, singling out fighting terrorism, and the return of Syrian and other refugees, reports Daily Sabah. 

He said constitutional protections to ensure Türkiye’s secular principles were also necessary to obtain the support of his ATA Alliance – named after the republic’s founder Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.

Oğan said he would ask whoever he endorses to sign and share details of an agreement in a “transparent protocol” with the public.

Incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan dominated the polls in presidential elections on May 14, receiving 49.51% of the vote. His Justice and Development Party (AK Party) also secured many seats in the simultaneous parliamentary polls.

Erdoğan’s main rival, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, came in at 44.88% and will need Oğan’s support in the likely run-off if he hopes to achieve the more than 50% needed to become the next president.

Oğan said both camps congratulated him, but he has yet to start serious negotiations, including a potential position in the new government.

He expects to make a final decision as early as this coming weekend “to avoid uncertainty.”

“Had Sinan Oğan not been in the race, Erdoğan would be making his balcony speech last night,” Oğan said.

Erdoğan did appear at the balcony of his party’s Ankara headquarters to address a jubilant crowd but fell short of declaring outright victory.

Oğan said he is “very comfortable” with playing the role of kingmaker and that he was confident he would get the 2.8 million people who voted for him to support the candidate he endorses.

Kılıçdaroğlu’s camp made a “mistake” by ignoring the true power of the right-wing in Türkiye, Oğan argued. He said Kılıçdaroğlu’s six-party opposition bloc of secular, nationalist and conservatives, including former Erdoğan allies, failed to earn people’s trust.

Oğan’s ATA Alliance, led by ultra-nationalist Zafer (Victory) Party leader Ümit Özdağ, promises to send around 3.4 million Syrian refugees in Türkiye back to Syria, reinstate Atatürk’s secular ideology and shut down the pro-PKK Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) over its ties to the PKK terrorist group.

Kılıçdaroğlu camp’s failure to secure a first-round victory “is truly quite a disappointment,” said political analyst Can Selçuki, who leads an Istanbul-based pollster.

“A Kılıçdaroğlu win in the first round was a low probability event, but the fact that Erdoğan surpassed him by a margin of 4% points is quite shocking,” Selçuki said.

“Even if entire Oğan supporters switch to Kılıçdaroğlu, [a win] is unlikely,” he added.

“Turkish nationalists and Kemalists are key in this election,” Oğan told reporters shortly after the elections, adding that there is a lot for the people who forced Homeland Party (MP) Chairman Muharrem Ince to withdraw from the race to learn from the results of the elections, as he criticized them for also targeting him and his party days ahead of the polls to withdraw from the race.

The vote came amid an ongoing economic crisis and February’s twin earthquakes, which devastated the country’s east.

After an uneventful vote that ended at 5 p.m. local time, a tense night, they prevailed in Türkiye as ballot boxes were opened. The opposition bloc of six parties repeatedly opposed the vote count, claiming their candidate Kılıçdaroğlu was ahead of incumbent President Erdoğan. In addition, they contested the official results and cried foul over results announced by the public news agency Anadolu Agency (AA).

Both Erdoğan and Kılıçdaroğlu called on their supporters to remain vigilant at the venues where votes were counted, “to stand guard at the ballot boxes.”

More than 64.1 million people were registered to vote, including over 1.76 million who have already cast their ballots abroad and 4.9 million first-time voters.

A total of 191,885 ballot boxes were set up for voters in the country. Every voter casts two ballots, one for the president and the other for lawmakers, who will serve five-year terms.