Erdogan accuses US of plotting to overthrow – Südtirol News

At the end of the election campaign, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan accused the opposition of trying to overthrow him with the help of the United States. “Biden ordered the overthrow of Erdogan, I know it. All my people know it,” the 69-year-old said Saturday at a rally in Istanbul, facing US President Joe Biden. He did not substantiate his claims. A spokesman for the US State Department denied the president’s accusations.

“The United States is not taking sides in the election,” a US State Department spokesman said. The US government will monitor the election closely. “Our only interest is in the democratic process, which must be free and fair. We trust that the Turkish authorities will conduct the elections in accordance with their long, proud democratic tradition and laws,” he said.

Erdogan had called on his supporters to pray together at the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. In 2020 he successfully celebrated the rededication of the former Christian church as a mosque. Erdogan’s challenger Kemal Kilicdaroglu stayed away from campaign events on Saturday, visiting only the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey.

According to the polls, Erdogan is behind Kilicdaroglu. Apart from the President, Parliament will also be re-elected on Sunday. Erdogan’s Islamic-conservative AKP and the nationalist MHP form a six-member coalition led by Kılıçdaroğlu. The strongest force in the sextet is Kilicdaroglu’s secular Republican People’s Party (CHP).

Polling stations open at 7:00 a.m. CET and close at 4:00 p.m. There may be the first signs of whether a run-off for the presidential election will take place later Sunday. This is the case if no candidate gets more than 50 percent.

Erdogan, who has ruled for more than two decades, is now the most powerful head of state in Turkey since Atatürk. However, its popularity has suffered due to high inflation, which has drastically increased the cost of living for many Turks. Kilicdaroglu has announced plans to restore Turkey to a parliamentary democracy, reduce the powers of the president and ensure the independence of the judiciary. He also wants to make peacekeeping a central part of his foreign policy.

On Friday evening, Erdogan announced that he would accept the result of the referendum even if he lost. “In Turkey we are coming to power through democratic means,” he said in Istanbul. If the nation decides against him on Sunday, he will do “what democracy needs”.

However, he assumes he will be elected to another term and that his coalition will win a majority in parliament with 600 MPs, Erdogan said. Erdogan’s Islamist-conservative AKP, ultra-nationalist MHP and a coalition of smaller right-wing and Islamist parties will “respect every decision from the ballot box,” he added.

Erdogan has been president since 2014 and has wielded more power than ever since the introduction of the presidential system in 2018. He can form a government without parliament. Critics fear that if Erdogan wins again, the country of about 85 million people will go completely autocratic. Opposition parties want to return to parliamentary system.

By: APA/dpa/Reuters