Erdoğan rival taps into anti-refugee stance ahead of Turkish vote
-
Loading... - Cyril Fiala
- 03 May 2023
- 53 Views
- 0 Like
- 0 Comment
Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu speaks at an event in Zonguldak, northern Türkiye, May 1, 2023. (AA Photo)
BY DAILY SABAH MAY 01, 2023 4:03 PM
Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the main contender in the May 14 elections against incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, reiterated his pledge “to send back” Syrian refugees in Türkiye if he wins elections.
Addressing an election rally in the mining hub Zonguldak province in northern Türkiye on Monday, the Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader claimed the country “looks after 3.6 million Syrians while the youth remain unemployed.” “By God’s will, we will send back all our Syrian brothers and sisters to their homeland within two years,” he said.
Kılıçdaroğlu was nominated by a six-party opposition bloc as presidential candidate for the elections and will also run against Muharrem Ince and Sinan Oğan: Two other candidates who more or less are on the same page with him on the anti-refugee stance. Only Erdoğan opposes a rushed send-off for refugees, though he acknowledges that refugees would return to their country once Syria is safe and secure. Erdoğan and government officials, however, repeated that it would be a dignified return and nobody would be forced to return to Türkiye’s war-torn neighbor.
Also on Monday, Ümit Özdağ, head of the Victory Party (ZP), reiterated a vow to send back refugees. The ZP is the main component of the Ancestral Alliance, which nominated Sinan Oğan as their presidential candidate.
“We should be able to send away refugees by force like Lebanon did,” Özdağ told an event in the western province of Izmir. Lebanon recently launched a campaign against Syrians without valid residency papers. The Lebanese government, however, announced that returns would be voluntary. Read More…
