Turkey will hold a second round of presidential elections on Sunday, with opposition candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu trying to secure victory by promising to crack down on refugees, and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan saying his success would be a victory for terrorists.
“As soon as I come to power, I will send all the refugees home,” on May 18, after the first round of the presidential election, in which he won 2.5 million votes less than Erdogan, said Kilicdaroglu and noted that there are currently ten million refugees in Turkey.
The stated number deviates significantly from the United Nations data. According to UN data, approximately 3.9 million refugees live in Turkey, mostly from Syria. Erdogan is Kilicdaroglu accused of hate speech.
Professor Murat Erdogan (no relation to the president), who conducts regular research on refugees, estimates the total number of Syrian refugees and defectors from Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan to be close to six or seven million, according to the BBC.
He said yes discourse on the expulsion of refugees and defectors “not realistic”. “If we are talking about voluntary return, it is not feasible, and forced return would mean that more than 50,000 people would have to be returned per day,” it is said.
For months, Turkey’s economic woes have been the main topic, but before the second round, the rhetoric escalated and began to revolve around the refugee issue.
The BBC writes that the rhetoric is unpleasant, but that it could have an effect. Public opinion polls show that up to 85 percent of Turkish citizens want refugees from Syria to return to their homeland.
Political scientist from the University of Constantinople Koc Quiet Onur Kuru it is saidto try Kilicdaroglu win over young voters to their side. According to him, he is aware of the feeling of threat due to the number of refugees, terrorist attacks and wars in Syria, Ukraine and between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Erdogan, meanwhile, says he is already sending Syrian refugees back and plans more deportations. His main ally is a far-right party IHL.
In manipulated video has linked his opponent to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which Turkey and the West label a terrorist organization. It’s Friday saidto Kilicdaroglueva victory also meant victory “terrorist organizations”.
Kilicdaroglu supports pro-Kurdish client HDPbecause he wants an end “one man regime”while at the same time she is concerned about his connections with far-right nationalists.
On Sunday, Erdogan is the favorite, but Kilicdaroglu he says he could still win if he gets 2.8 million votes from supporters of an ultra-nationalist candidate Sinana Oganawho came third in the first round, or eight million votes of people who did not vote in the first round.
Source: Rtvslo
