A major rally organized by the main opposition coalition Nation Alliance (Millet İttifakı) took place on Sunday (April 30) in Turkey’s third largest city of İzmir. Attended by each of the six leaders of the parties making up the alliance, the rally hosted a massive turnout and was interpreted as a major show of support by the city for the presidential candidacy of Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the joint candidate from the electoral alliance who will challenge President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Turkey’s general elections on May 14.
İzmir, located on Turkey’s western Aegean coast, is a well-known opposition stronghold that has historically voted heavily for Kılıçdaroğlu’s Republican People’s Party (CHP). Throughout its 20-plus years in power, President Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) has failed to make significant inroads into the city often referred to in Turkish as the ‘CHP’s Castle’.
The event took place at Gündoğdu Square, a major park on İzmir’s waterfront just next to the city center. Major banners displayed at the rally included slogans such as “Let’s finish this in the first round, Kemal is coming,” and “the route to Çankaya [Ankara] passes through İzmir”. One gigantic poster hung from a tall building bordering the park displayed a drawn picture of Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu sporting a superman costume. The city is also known for its deep-rooted support for Turkey’s founding father Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, which was evident from many of the banners being waved at Sunday’s event, with one containing the words “We are all Mustafa Kemal.”
Prior to the official start of the event, several of Izmir’s local government representatives from the CHP took the stage to greet attendees. The event was then kicked off by Izmir mayor Tunç Soyer, himself a member of Kılıçdaroğlu’s CHP, who welcomed the presidential nominee to the city saying “Izmir is determined to make you our president; Turkey’s future suits you well.”
The event then proceeded with appearances from each of the six Nation Alliance party leaders as well as the opposition mayors of both Istanbul and Ankara. Saadet Party head Temel Karamollaoğlu criticized the Erdoğan regime’s recent announcements of major domestically produced defense machinery, saying “Gun carriages, drones, tanks, they are showing off all of these. They show them on television. But they are still incapable of understanding and addressing the needs of our people. They [the AKP government] have become clumsy and are no longer capable of changing.”
Remarks from DEVA Party head Ali Babacan, İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavaş, Gelecek Party head Ahmet Davutoğlu, Demokrat Party head Gültekin Uysal, and İYİ Party Chairwoman Meral Akşener also sung Kılıçdaroğlu’s praises while demanding an end to President Erdoğan’s tenure. In her comments, Akşener said “Listen to us, Mr Recep, you have been sent into retirement!”
Recent strengthening of ties between Kılıçdaroğlu and the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP) has attracted criticism from President Erdoğan, whose coalition is currently pushing for the party’s shutdown by Turkey’s Supreme Court over alleged terrorism connections. The HDP recently formally endorsed Kılıçdaroğlu’s candidacy, just a month after the party announced they would not be running their own candidate in what was interpreted as a show of support for the CHP leader. Earnestly refuting the suggestion that Kılıçdaroğlu’s cooperation with the HDP was a sign of alleged ‘terrorism ties’, Mansur Yavaş said in his comments in İzmir on Sunday: “Our chairman has been working in the public sector for 27.5 years…The economy and the government ministries are broken and the only solution they can find is to accuse us of terrorism. Kılıçdaroğlu is the last person in this country who can be accused of working with terrorists. The PKK [Kurdish Workers Party] attempted an assassination against him in the Black Sea [region]”.
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Istanbul Mayor İmamoğlu, who took the stage with his wife Dilek, promised the victory of Turkey’s masses over what he characterized as a handful of AKP elites: “Residents of Izmir and all 86 million of us will win. Do not forget this. 86 million of us will win and seize government power. A small handful of people will lose. The ones who will lose are those who say ‘I know better’. Those who say ‘I am in charge of everything’. Those are the ones who will lose and be sent home.”
Kılıçdaroğlu took the stage last, promising an end to the lavish lifestyles of Ankara-dwelling AKP elites: “I have no intention of taking over the ‘palace’ [Erdogan’s Ankara residence]. We will go to Mustafa Kemal’s humble Çankaya [central Ankara] and serve the public. There are those in the ‘palace’ receiving salaries from 4, 5, 6 different places. I will be cutting them off and kicking them out. Please do not worry.”
The opposition rally in Izmir followed a similar rally by President Erdoğan and the AKP the previous day (April 29). Although not traditionally popular in the city, photos published by government media sources had indicated a massive turnout at the event similar to the turnout commanded by the opposition on Sunday. Opposition media sources later disputed these claims, saying the President’s party had published images of the rally that falsely portrayed the size of the turnout at Saturday’s event.
Written/translated for Medyscope by Leo Kendrick
