Highlights from the latest election rallies

In the last two days before the election, parties are intensively organizing election rallies to reach out to voters. According to the election calendar published by the Supreme Election Council (YSK), freedom of propaganda will end at 18.00 on Saturday, May 13. The Green Left Party (YSP), which will hold its final rallies in Istanbul and Diyarbakir, gave its election speech to tens of thousands of people in Izmir today. The YSP started its campaign rallies on 24 April and with the rallies to be held on the last day, it will have held 65 rallies in 20 days.

Today, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held a speech at an election rally in Sultangazi, Istanbul. When the teleprompter he was using for his speech during the rally broke, Erdogan became furious. Reacting to the broken prompter during his speech, Erdogan got angry with his advisor Orhan Karakurt in a low voice, but his words were heard through the microphone: “Orhan, are they crazy? We are ruined. Don’t make me swear.” The Turkish president has been in the spotlight many times in the past, with problems with a broken teleprompter or an open microphone.

Presidential candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu attended an election rally in Samsun today. Following the assassination allegations that reached his party CHP, extensive measures were taken at the rally. The number of Kilicdaroglu’s bodyguards was increased due to allegations of assassination and his bodyguards were equipped with long-barrelled weapons. Kılıçdaroğlu himself wore a steel vest. Citizens who wanted to take part in the rally were searched twice. In a video he shared today, the CHP leader responded to the government members’ “threatening” statements by saying: “Do you think you can frighten me? I would rather die standing than kneel before you and live.”