The two candidates for the Turkish presidency began their electoral movements in preparation for the second round scheduled for 28 of this month, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that he intends to visit some earthquake areas this weekend, criticizing some of the abuses of the afflicted against the background of the election results in those areas.
The Turkish president, who is running for the People's Alliance for the presidential elections, held a series of meetings with the leaders of his electoral alliance, led by the leader of the Nationalist Movement Party Devlet Bahceli, whose party came fourth in the parliamentary elections.
Erdogan also met with the head of the Welfare Party again, Fatih Erbakan, the head of the Kurdish Huda Party, Zakaria Yabicioglu, and the head of the Democratic Left Party, Ondar Aksakal.
On the other hand, the People's Alliance candidate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu held a meeting with the mayors of Ankara, Mansur Yavaş and Istanbul Ekrem Imamoglu, after a series of resignations and dismissals among his campaign officials.
Ismail Saimaz, a journalist close to the opposition, said Kılıçdaroğlu had sacked Akan Abdullah and Ali Kiremecioglu, who were running his campaign.
Anursal Adeguzal, deputy chairman of the ICT board of the Republican People's Party (CHP), led by presidential candidate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, announced his resignation.
Adegozal said in a tweet that I will resign from my duty, which I have been doing since 2018, in order not to harm the electoral process.
Visit earthquake areas
In a related context, Erdogan said that he plans to visit some earthquake areas this weekend, criticizing some of the abuses of the afflicted against the background of the election results in those areas.
During his participation in a joint broadcast of two local television channels, Erdogan thanked all citizens who showed the national will at the ballot boxes with a record participation rate, and stressed his gratitude to every citizen who cast his vote regardless of the party that voted for him.
He pointed out that some people are abusing those affected by the earthquake in this period (after the Justice and Development Party-led Public Alliance topped the election results in the earthquake-hit areas). He stressed that insulting those affected by the earthquake (against the background of the election results) is wrong and very ugly.
Some opposition figures say "we will not support and help them again", he said, because they did not get the percentage of votes they expected in those areas.
Erdogan also stressed the continuation of the struggle against the PKK organization inside and outside the country until the elimination of the last "terrorist."
In a tweet, the Turkish president paid tribute to the three martyrs of the Turkish gendarmerie forces during their clash with PKK terrorists in the Beestler Dere-lerr area of Sirnak province (southeastern Turkey).
After offering condolences to the families of the martyrs and the Turkish people, Erdogan stressed their determination to fight terrorists and their extensions inside and outside the country.
Youth targeting
Kılıçdaroğlu, the opposition candidate in Turkey's presidential election, said the demand for change was the biggest reality that came out of the ballot box.
Kılıçdaroğlu added in a series of tweets that those who demand change in Turkey are more than those who reject it, stressing the need to work intensively during the period leading up to the second round of elections.
Kılıçdaroğlu called on young Turks to reflect on the country's current situation, saying he understood their message and would work to allay what he described as their fears.