Victory Party chairman Ümit Özdag supports Kilicdaroglu

Following the meeting between presidential candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu and Victory Party (ZP) Chairman Ümit Özdag, Özdag announced that they have decided to support Kilicdaroglu in the presidential election on May 28.
In a joint press release, Özdag said: “Turkey’s major problem is the repatriation of 13 million refugees. Without sending 13 million back to their homeland and preventing the arrival of new ones, it is not possible for Turkey to overcome its economic problems. By spending 11 billion dollars, we cannot get rid of poverty, we cannot prevent the rise in rents, we cannot ensure security on the streets, we cannot find jobs for our children. Just as a swimmer cannot swim if you tie 20 kilos of iron to his legs, no matter how good a swimmer he is, a country cannot put its economy and security on the right track with 13 million refugees.” Özdag continued that Kilicdaroglu had made it very clear that refugees should return to their countries and that he would follow that policy. He added that Kilicdaroglu would ensure the safety of Syrians returning to Syria within a year in accordance with international law, but would also remove the huge burden on the Turkish economy and take drug gangs off the streets.
During their meeting, Özdag and Kilicdaroglu agreed on a 7-point protocol. The main principles of the seven-point protocol are as follows:
1. The first 4 articles of the constitution and the definition and content of Turkish citizenship in article 66 will be maintained.
2. The national-unitary-secular state, established in 1924, will never be compromised. These values will be upheld.
3. All refugees and illegals, especially Syrians, will be repatriated within a year at the latest.
4. An effective and decisive fight will be waged against all terrorist organizations, especially FETÖ, PKK and ISIS, which target the existence and integrity of the state. Within the framework of the fight against terrorism, the practice of appointing state officials instead of local administration administrators whose connection with terrorism is established by legal evidence will continue within the framework of judicial decision. Terrorism will be fought, not negotiated. No political and legal arrangement targeting Turkey’s national and unitary state structure will be allowed.
5. It will be ensured that appointments in all departments of the state will be based on merit, not loyalty.
6. All corruption will be fought very effectively within the framework of the law.
7. There is full agreement that the state should be transparent and accessible to its citizens.

Özdag also shared a tweet about Syrian refugees, referring to a picture of the CHP youth branch writing “Syrians will leave” on a wall: “First of all, thank you young people. We will give you the templates of the Victory Party. And I promise that I will send them as the Minister of Interior. But not only Syrians, everyone who thinks Turkey is the world’s funfair, who treats our women as odalisques, who turns our streets into a drug paradise, who organizes Salafist jihadist organizations and who spends our 11 billion dollars a year will go.” Following the ZP’s decision to support Kilicdaroglu, there has been a debate on social media about how this support will affect the election.