Far-right Sinan Ogan backs Erdogan

Sinan Ogan, who was the candidate of the ATA Alliance in the first round of the presidential election, announced his decision regarding the second-round election with a press statement. Ogan declared that they will support Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the candidate of the People’s Alliance. The far-right politician, who received 5,2 percent of the vote in the May 14 presidential election, urged voters to cast their ballots for Erdogan. The decision has become a big item in the media, with reactions from many politicians.

Presidential candidate Kilicdaroglu was one of the first to react. In his post on Twitter, Kilicdaroglu made the following statement: “It is clear who is in favor of this beautiful homeland and who is in favor of those who sell this beautiful homeland! We are coming to save this country from terrorism and refugees. This is a referendum; no one will deceive anyone anymore. I call on our 8 million citizens and all our young people who did not go to the polls to vote!”

While Ogan’s support is expected to give Erdogan an advantage in the second round, Ümit Özdag, the chairman of the Victory Party (ZP), which is a part of the ATA alliance, also reacted against the decision: “Mr. Sinan Ogan’s statement is just his own political preference. This statement does not represent or bind the Victory Party. The statement on behalf of the Victory Party will be made by me tomorrow at 11:00 am.”

The Victory Party also announced on Twitter that the ATA Alliance has abandoned its preference for joint decision-making and action, and that the parties will only take decisions on their own behalf. Following his meeting with Kilicdaroglu, Vecdet Öz, the chairman of the Justice Party (AP), which is another component of the ATA alliance, announced that his party will support Kilicdaroglu in the second round. The alliance has split over the parties’ different decisions on which candidates to support in the second round.

With the increasing reactions following Ogan’s statement, a post shared by Ogan on his personal Twitter account in December 2014 started circulating on social media again. In the post, he had said, “In Turkey, when one thinks of a thief as a reasonable suspect, ‘thief = Illegal Palace = AKP = Erdogan = Ministers’ comes to mind.” As a politician who has uttered these words, he has been criticized countless times for the contradiction of supporting Erdogan. On the other hand, Muharrem Ince, the chairman of the Homeland Party, who withdrew his candidacy three days before the May 14 elections, is reportedly going to call on his voters to support Kilicdaroglu. Journalist Saban Sevinc claims on Twitter that Ince will make a call on Tuesday or Wednesday to vote for Kemal Kilicdaroglu and announce his support.