Opposition leaders meet to discuss Istanbul election
ANKARA
Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu and İYİ (Good) Party leader Meral Akşener met on May 13 to discuss a strategy for the June 23 do-over election in Istanbul.
“Exchanging opinions should be a tradition in the politics at a time when we have so many problems,” Kılıçdaroğlu said after the meeting in Ankara.
“We shared views on Turkey’s domestic and international problems. We also talked about recent violence against journalists,” he said.
Akşener, for her side, confirmed her party’s support of Ekrem İmamoğlu, the candidate running for the Istanbul mayor seat for the CHP and İYİ Party’s Nation Alliance.
“We supported İmamoğlu yesterday [in the March 31 election], and we support him today,” she said.
“We talked about justice, the law and democracy,” she added.
Meanwhile, CHP spokesperson Faik Öztrak condemned Binali Yıldırım, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) mayoral candidate for Istanbul, over his accusations that CHP was ”stealing votes” during the March 31 election.
“AKP’s candidate is saying ‘They stole the votes.’ All of the Supreme Election Council [YSK], police forces, judges and prosecutors are at your command. You have over 280,000 people in charge in the polls,” Öztrak said at a press meeting in capital Ankara on May 13.
“You have been in power for 17 years. Pardon me, but if there is a thievery in the polls, only you could have done it. Those pilfering the elections are now accusing us of stealing votes,” he said.
