(21 Apr 2018) The leader of Turkey's main opposition party is confident his party will win the upcoming snap elections and oust the powerful Turkish president, despite the party's lagging performance in past polls.
Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the leader of the Republican People's Party, or CHP, expects his party to come out of June 24 presidential and parliamentary elections with "at least 60 percent of votes." He said past supporters of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan would "side with democracy" instead of a "dictatorship."
But the 69-year-old politician may be overly optimistic. Though Kilicdaroglu says they are ready and were not "surprised" by this week's announcement of early elections, the pro-secular CHP has yet to put forward a candidate, a campaign plan or any potential alliances.
President Erdogan, however, has been working to consolidate his base for months with speeches and events, bolstered by rising nationalism amid Turkey's military operation in Syria against a Kurdish stronghold. He is allied with a nationalist party that was once an opposition.
Speaking to The Associated Press on Saturday, Kilicdaroglu said Erdogan and his ruling party were turning to elections with the aim "to obtain more power, to completely suspend democracy." He said the elections would usher in the new presidential system and if Erdogan is victorious, establish "the one-man regime" and "there will be more severe pressure on society."
A year ago, Erdogan narrowly won a referendum to transform Turkey's ruling system to an executive presidency, abolishing the office of the prime minister and give the president more powers. The change takes effect after the next election, which were scheduled for November 2019 but moved forward to this summer.
Though the CHP garnered only a quarter of national votes in the 2015 general elections, it has been emboldened by the high number of "no" votes in the referendum, which stood at 48,6 percent, as well as widespread support for a "March for Justice" it launched last June.
The march, following the jailing of one of its lawmakers, was a response to the state of emergency declared after a failed coup attempt in July 2016 that is still in place and which the opposition leader calls "a civilian coup."
In its aftermath, he said, "pressures on media increased, parliamentarians were arrested, journalists were jailed, non-governmental organizations were silenced or their managers imprisoned."
"The march gave society a breath and with June 24, God willing, we will this time get rid of them completely," Kilicdaroglu said.

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