​Kilicdaroglu throws hat into ring, makes new promises

TURKEY - In Brief 22 Feb 2022 by Atilla Yesilada

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Main opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu seems to be smelling victory. In an extended interview with Reuters, he stated his readiness to step forward as the joint presidential candidate of the 6-party opposition alliance. He is also developing an economic and diplomacy platform to run on. As our team expected, Kilicdaroglu told Reuters (link here) that he is ready to run against Erdogan in the next presidential election, if his alliance partners agree. Press reports from last week’s six-party summit suggest that there may be an agreement on Kilicdaroglu. As to whether he can win against Erdogan, polls are divided. This is a topic on which I hope to present poll data in the next weekly.I also want to point out that Kilicdaroglu may be sacrificing himself as a Trojan Horse candidate, to provide some cover for Ekrem Imamoglu, who seems to have a better chance of beating Erdogan, according to majority of polls on the issue. Kilicdaroglu also vaguely addressed my main concern:The absence of a joint economic plan.He said: “The six anti-Erdogan party leaders would discuss their candidate later, but first need to agree on economic, social and other policies for their joint platform”. Regarding the economy, he made his most important promise. The next president shall replace CBRT head Mr. Kavcioglu and the entire MPC. While this promise is not as strong as guaranteeing full independence of action for the institution, previous statements by him, Aksener and Babacan suggest this is intention. Separately, Turkish press reports that CHP is already compiling names to replace top civil servants, who no longer enjoy tenure under the presidential system. This means if Kilicdaroglu is ...