Two weeks before the polls to elect a new president and a new parliament, Turkey has witnessed the rallies of three major electoral blocs in three major cities on Sunday.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has targeted his rival Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu over his Alevi faith, police have detained more than 10 people outside the Istanbul rally of the Green Left Party, and an office of the pro-Kurdish party in Istanbul has also been attacked.
Green Left Party office in Istanbul becomes target of attack
The Green Left Party’s Bahçelievler branch office in Istanbul became a target of “a planned racist attack” at around 16:00 local time on Sunday, Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) district co-chair Fatma Çatar announced.
After a football match at a stadium close to the party’s office, a cortege of 20 vehicles carrying fans drove up to the office, shouting racist and sexist abuse and verbally harassing those inside. The attackers then attacked the party’s office with smoke bombs and flaming torches, according to Mezopotamya Agency.
“This attack on one of our offices was neither the first nor will it be the last. … The government accelerated its attacks as soon as it realised that it will be gone soon. Despite these intimidation policies, we will continue our campaign,” said Çatar.
Police detain Green Left supporters after rally
The police intervened with tear gas and detained at least 13 people who were chanting slogans as they left at the end of the Green Left Party’s rally in Istanbul on Sunday, where tens of thousands of people had gathered, Mezopotamya Agency reports.
Meanwhile, in the square where the rally had been held, the police kettled around 30 people, including parliamentary candidates, for several minutes, and attacked journalists who were filming.
Kılıçdaroğlu urges voters to “choose democracy” in Izmir Rally
The main opposition bloc of the Nation Alliance and its presidential candidate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, who aims to end the 21-year rule of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, met with his supporters in Izmir on Sunday at the same venue where the ruling party had held a rally on Saturday.
Kılıçdaroğlu stated that the elections would start a new era coinciding with the centennial of the founding of the Turkish Republic, saying, “This election is the election to ensure equality between men and women. This election is a choice to embrace rather than separate. And this election is the election to bring democracy to Turkey,” Kılıçdaroğlu said.
Erdoğan’s political story will end in Istanbul – HDP co-chair
In Istanbul, the pro-Kurdish Green Left Party, which announced its support for Kılıçdaroğlu in the presidential elections and is expected to play a decisive role in the results, met with its supporters.
“Erdoğan’s political story will end in Istanbul,” said Pervin Buldan, co-chair of the HDP. The HDP is entering the elections in the lists of the Green Left Party in order not to jeopardise the results due to the imminent threat of the party being closed by the courts.
Buldan recalled that in the 2019 municipal elections, HDP voters supported the main opposition party’s candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu in Istanbul, and helped in causing the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) to lose Istanbul after 15 years. He said they would use the same strategy to end Erdoğan’s rule, urging voters to support Kılıçdaroğlu in the presidential elections.
Erdogan sparks backlash over Alevi identity comment
Erdogan accused Kılıçdaroğlu of sectarianism in Ankara, in his second rally following his illness last week. “Who asked you whether you are an Alevi or not?” said Erdoğan in response to the main opposition bloc’s presidential candidate’s recently released video in which he talked about his Alevi identity. “We respect Alevis, we respect all kinds of species,” he said, causing a backlash on social media with his use of the word “species”.
