After months of negotiations and a week of drama, the Turkish opposition bloc has announced Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the leader of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), as their joint presidential candidate. The general election in May looks set to be the biggest challenge president Erdoğan has faced since coming to power in 2002.
An unusual scene unfolded in Ankara on Monday night. A huge portrait of Atatürk, the radically secular founding father of modern Turkey, fluttered in the breeze over the headquarters of an Islamist party. Outside, thousands gathered, chanting the name Kılıçdaroğlu, a politician from a religious minority, the Alevis, who have faced persecution for most of the Turkish Republic’s 100 year history. Inside the party headquarters, alongside their hosts, the centre-left CHP, the ultranationalist Good Party (IYI Party), and two breakaway parties from Erdoğan’s government were finalising the nomination of their joint candidate, and a road map for the next general elections, due to be held on 14 May.
The same factors that helped Erdoğan win the elections 21 years ago, could bring him crashing down in May
The Nation Alliance consists of six opposition parties, and was created last year to put an end to Erdoğan’s two-decades-long rule.
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