Main opposition presidential candidate and Republican People’s Party (CHP) Chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu appeared in a video Sunday evening with Istanbul mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu and Ankara mayor Mansur Yavaş. Both mayors have been named as Kılıçdaroğlu’s vice presidents should the opposition leader win the presidency in Turkey’s upcoming elections on May 14. Addressing the two mayors as “My boys,” Kılıçdaroğlu discussed the various projects to be done around Turkey such as preventative measures for future earthquakes and strengthening Turkey’s social safety net.
“My dear nation, I am addressing you today with my future vice presidents. Mayor İmamoğlu is on my left, and Mayor Yavaş is on my right. Let’s ignore the events of the last few days and focus for a minute on the issues at hand.” Kılıçdaroğlu said, adding that political provocations must not dominate Turkey’s political headlines.
Emphasizing that economic problems, soaring rent prices, and the recent earthquake in southeastern Turkey are the main problems facing the country, Kılıçdaroğlu said “Do you know what problems our people are dealing with? There are economic problems, there are rent problems, there are earthquakes, there are floods, there are disasters that have happened and will likely continue to happen in our country. That’s why we need well-designed cities with safe, structurally sound buildings that are reinforced by common sense housing policies.”
Special projects assigned for İmamoğlu and Yavaş
In the event that he wins the upcoming election, Kılıçdaroğlu announced in Sunday night’s video that he would assign disaster preparedness to his future-vice president and current Istanbul mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu: “My man Ekrem is the one who will finally put an end to so many years of poor urban planning.”
Assigning Yavaş the task of strengthening Turkey’s social safety net, Kılıçdaroğlu continued as follows:
“What is another topic on our agenda? Social policies. We need to quickly strengthen our households. We have a lot of work to do in the fight against poverty, from family support insurance to women’s employment. In addition, we need to implement technological breakthroughs and agricultural development that will develop and strengthen Turkey. Which of my vıce presidents will do this task? Naturally, Mansur. I trust my Mayor Mansur, who turned around years of poor management that he inherited in Ankara, and focused on people-oriented policies and projects. I will also rely on him to continue to develop our nation’s technology sector.”
“We are ready for the happiness of the country”
Istanbul mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu made comments in the video in which he referenced the recent destructive earthquakes saying: “Unfortunately, this beautiful country has experienced the greatest destruction of the last 20 years. Due to certain laws, institutions, and regulations, as well as partisanship and discrimination, our cities have unfortunately lagged far behind the modern world [when it comes to earthquake preparedness].”
Stating that he will bring cities to modern standards, İmamoğlu said, “We aim to transform Turkey into one of the most important logistics centers of the world, not with unplanned highways, but with integrated rail, land, and air routes. We also aim to make all our cities earthquake resistant and civilized for all residents. We are ready for the happiness of the whole country, Mr. President.”
“We will achieve success”
In the video Ankara mayor Mansur Yavaş also spoke, saying “Thank you very much, Mr. President. By restructuring the understanding of the social state, we will hopefully build a system where no one goes to bed hungry, no one goes hungry, and no one is deprived of their education and basic rights.”
Mansur Yavaş continued as follows:
“By removing the foreign exchange burden from the shoulders of the farmers, we will definitely create a model that works, is self-sufficient, and supports rural development. On land, in the air, in the country and in cyberspace, we will definitely achieve success in all 81 provinces and seven regions in partnership with qualified staff and the brilliant young people of our country.”
Kılıçdaroğlu thanked İmamoğlu and Yavaş and said, “My dear nation, we will work hard. We have no other choice. We are far, far behind other parts of the world. We will work hard to close this gap. Let’s do it, in the name of God.”
Recent videos from Kılıçdaroğlu
Sunday night’s video featuring Ankara and Istanbul mayors was just the latest in a series of online videos released by Kılıçdaroğlu in recent days that have received heavy attention. Last week (April 17), the opposition leader released a video message on social media criticising the current government’s treatment of Turkey’s Kurdish minority. Two days later (April 19), Kılıçdaroğlu released a second video message in which he openly discussed his Alevi religious identity for the first time. Reaching nearly 30 million views, the video in which he discussed his membership in the Alevi minority group became Twitter’s all time most-viewed video.
Turkey’s highly-anticipated presidential and parliamentary elections on May 14 are expected to present the greatest challenge yet to incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s 20-plus year rule. Kılıçdaroğlu seeks to unseat the long-tenured strongman as part of a broad coalition with both nationalist and Islamist parties known as the Table of Six. Should no candidate succeed in winning the majority of votes on May 14, the contest will head to a run-off round two weeks later.
Written/translated for Medyascope by Leo Kendrick
