Ancestral Alliance breaks up: Responses to Oğan's support for Erdoğan

Click to read the article in Turkish (1) (2)

Different responses came rapidly to Sinan Oğan, who ran in the first round as the candidate of the Ancestral (ATA) Alliance, after he announced his support for Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the second round of the presidential elections yesterday.

Opposite statements were made both by the political parties and figures within the Ancestral Alliance, and the opposition parties and circles supporting Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu in the second round.

Kılıçdaroğlu himself wrote on his Twitter account, "It is clear who stands by the one who sells this beautiful country," and he invited the 8 million people who did not cast their votes in the first round to vote this time.

Ümit Özdağ: "Oğan's personal choice"

The Victory (Zafer) Party, which received 2,23% (more than 1,5 million) of the votes in the parliamentary elections on May 14, the Justice (Adalet) Party, My Country (Ülkem) Party, and Turkey Alliance Party were the parties that constituted the Ancestral Alliance and they ran with Sinan Oğan in the presidential elections in the first round.

Yesterday it was revealed immediately that Ümit Özdağ, the president of the Victory Party in the alliance, was not in agreement with Oğan. Özdağ having met Kılıçdaroğlu the day before, announced that they are not backing the support Oğan gave to Erdoğan and that they will be announcing their attitude tomorrow (today/May 23). The announcement is going to be made at 13:00 pm today.

Ancestral Alliance breaks up

The Victory Party had made an announcement before Özdağ and stated that the "Ancestral Alliance has given up the preferences to take common decisions and to act together."

The Justice Party had announced support for the opposition candidate Kılıçdaroğlu yesterday before Oğan's announcement and Vecdet Öz, the president of the party had stated that the alliance has come to an end.

"Our first priority is for this government to go. Therefore our decision was to support Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu. We have communicated this support to him. This is our democratic right. Therefore we are also telling our voters, that this is our decision.

Later on in the day, Öz announced his party's withdrawal from the Ancestral Alliance, saying, "Supporting the government was not part of our plan."

Akşener: "People who voted for Oğan will decide for themselves"

Meral Akşener, the president of the Good (İYİ) Party was on a live TV program yesterday evening on Habertürk where she said she was not surprised to hear that Oğan announced his support for Erdoğan in the second round but that she did not believe that the people who voted for him will follow the same road.

"He does not have the right to make this evaluation, the people who voted for Oğan are going to make this evaluation themselves," Akşener said.

The Good Party leader also said that she did not think that the Nation Alliance failed, concerning the presidential elections.

"AKP votes dropped to the rate they received in 2002. For the first time in 21 years, Erdoğan has to run again in the second round. But they have won the majority in the parliament. This may even be beneficial for Turkey," Akşener said.

"I believe that we can have Kılıçdaroğlu elected as the Nation Alliance. When the People Alliance has the majority in the legislative body, and the Nation Alliance has the administration, a check and balance system will start to function again, and we will start to question again the notion of a president with limitless powers.

"I maintain that if this happens, reason will prevail in Turkey, and we can realize a transition to a parliamentary system together in the Parliament without any need for a referendum with the support of all political parties in the Parliament. That is why the voters have an interest in Kılıçdaroğlu being elected the president," the Good Party leader said.

What did Oğan say?

Yesterday (May 22) Sinan Oğan, who received a total of 2 million 831 thousand and 239 votes (5.17%) in the first round of the presidential race, announced support for Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the second round of the presidential elections to be held on May 28.

"As a result of the discussions and talks we have had, and the messages we received from the people, we will be endorsing Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the candidate of the People's Alliance in the second round of the elections," Oğan announced. (AS/PE)