CHP leader says he is ready for presidential candidacy if agreed

ANKARA

The main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu said he was ready to run in the next presidential elections if other opposition parties agree on his name.

“If my name is agreed on, I am ready,” he said on Sept. 5 in an interview with Fox TV when asked about his possible presidential candidacy in the next elections.

“If agreed, of course. Why should we not be ready. It is clear how the state should be managed. All six leaders have already reached a consensus on how the state should be governed. We will sit, talk, discuss like civilized people,” he stated.

He stressed that the candidacy process will be carried out with the decision taken by six opposition parties.

“I am a person who keeps my promise. This is what I have been saying for a long time. We sit with six leaders, we will nominate our own candidate and we will announce it to the public,” Kılıçdaroğlu said.

That person will become the 13th President of the Republic of Türkiye, and that person will prioritize the culture of reconciliation, he added.

Asked about the CHP deputy Gürsel Tekin’s remarks that the possible government of opposition parties can include a minister from the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), Kılıçdaroğlu said, “While the decision is being made, six leaders will make a decision.”

The leaders of the oppositional Nation Alliance held their sixth in-person meeting on Aug. 21.

Felicity party (FP) Chair Temel Karamollaoğlu hosted CHP leader Kılıçdaroğlu, Good (İYİ) Party Chairwoman Meral Akşener, Democracy and Progress Party (DEVA) Chairman Ali Babacan, Future Party Chairman Ahmet Davutoğlu and Democrat Party Chairman Gültekin Uysal over a working luncheon.

The opposition alliance was formed against the People’s Alliance of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) ahead of next year’s presidential and parliamentary polls.