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Ultra-nationalist Oğan, President Erdoğan on May 19 in Istanbul
Photo: PRESIDENT PRESS OFFICE HANDOUT / EPO
A few days before the run-off election for the presidency in Turkey, the ultranationalist politician Sinan Oğan has announced that he will side with the incumbent ruler Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. This is reported by several news agencies in agreement.
Oğan, who came third in the first round of voting, is considered the kingmaker in next Sunday's run-off election. It will take place because neither Erdoğan nor opposition leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu achieved the required absolute majority in the first round of voting a week ago. Erdoğan received 49.5 percent of the vote in the first round, Kılıçdaroğlu 44.9 percent.
Erdoğan's AKP party and its nationalist and Islamist allies retained a majority in the 600-seat parliament.
Last week, Oğan listed conditions for supporting Erdoğan. These include a tough stance against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and a timetable for the expulsion of millions of refugees, including nearly 3.7 million Syrians.
Erdoğan then said in an interview with CNN International that he would not bow to such demands. "I'm not a person who likes to negotiate in this way. It will be the people who set the tone," he said.
Kılıçdaroğlu also tried to win the nationalists' favour last week. He sharpened his tone, promising to send back refugees if he is elected and to rule out peace negotiations with the PKK.
fin/AP/AFP