Opposition’s presidential candidate visits former presidents

ISTANBUL

Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the joint candidate of the Nation Alliance and the chair of the Republican People’s party, paid a visit of courtesy to former President Abdullah Gül on March 31.

Kılıçdaroğlu, the chairman of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), will run against President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and two other contenders, Muharrem İnce and Sinan Oğan, for the president in the May 14 polls.

He visited Gül in the latter’s office in Istanbul. Gül, a former deputy prime minister and foreign minister from the ranks of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) served the nation as the president between the years of 2007 and 2014. Gül is known for his opposition to Erdoğan’s policies since the 2017 referendum that shifted the government model from a parliamentary to an executive-presidential system.

Before Gül, Kılıçdaroğlu did visit former President Ahmet Necdet Sezer on March 30 in Ankara. Sezer, former head of the Constitutional Court, was Türkiye’s 10th president between 2000 and 2007. Following the meeting, Sezer briefly told the media that he was supporting Kılıçdaroğlu’s candidacy for the presidential elections. “I support Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu and I want him to be successful,” he said.