The presidential election run-offs on 28 May, in which the current president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the opposition’s candidate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu will compete, offer the peoples of Turkey the opportunity to steer the country away from the economic whirlpool it is approaching by overthrowing the Erdoğan government, Salih Zeki Tombak, central executive of the Peoples’ Democratic Congress (HDK) told Mezopotamya Agency.
Tombak said that Turkey’s economy is actually in a state of total collapse, which was not reflected in the 14 May results due to the government’s reckless spending in the pre-election period to mislead the public: “The government bought itself some time, but it lacks the performance to make use of that.”
Given the current state of external debt and central bank reserves, the US Dollar will jump to 30 Turkish lira after the elections, making the current situation seem much better in retrospect, Tombak predicted.
“People will become even poorer, and wealth will continue to be transferred to the rich class. Citizens who voice their objections will be threatened by the police in public places,” he said.
Tombak warned about the heavy cost of abstaining from voting and called on people to mobilise to remove the government: “If we do not overcome this situation, a very dark future awaits us where our society will be plunged into hunger and misery.”
There is only one way out of the inescapable spiral Turkey is heading towards, said Tombak: “And that is to change this government through elections. The impoverished and helpless society will give its answer to this on 28 May.”
Erdoğan, running for the Turkish presidency for the third time, failed to secure a majority with 49.51 percent in the first round on 14 May, advancing to the run-off against the opposition’s candidate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, who received 44.88 percent of the votes.