Erdoğan acknowledges Kılıçdaroğlu-PKK video may be fabricated

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President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has acknowledged that a video he presented during his election rallies about his opponent's alleged collaboration with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) may be "manipulated."

During televised program last night on the state broadcaster TRT, Erdoğan responded to a journalist's question regarding his allegations targeting Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the opposition's presidential candidate.

Abdülkadir Selvi, a columnist known for his close affiliation with the government, raised a query about a video that was shown during Erdoğan's election campaign rallies, asking, "In your speech, you mentioned 'they filmed videos with them' twice. I didn't quite grasp the meaning. Who exactly filmed videos with whom?"

Erdoğan replied, "Kılıçdaroğlu has videos with those in Qandil... Manipulated or not, these video recordings were made," referring to the Qandil mountains in Iraq's Kurdistan region, where the PKK is based.

In response to Erdoğan's remarks, Kılıçdaroğlu quoted a video clip of the President on Twitter and labeled him a "manipulative charlatan."

He further added in another tweet, "I am tired of being falsely accused, while he shows no signs of weariness in making baseless accusations against me. O Lord, reveal to everyone who is virtuous and who is corrupt. Amen!"

Prior to the presidential and parliamentary elections held on May 14, Erdoğan accused the opposition of collaborating with the PKK during his rallies and presented a video montage to the audience, combining footage of PKK leaders in the Qandil Mountains with Kılıçdaroğlu's election advertisement, falsely insinuating that the PKK supported the CHP.

As neither candidate managed to get 50% of the votes to win in the presidential election, a runoff vote will be held on May 28.

Montajcı sahtekar. https://t.co/8P0VanXtFj

— Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu (@kilicdarogluk) May 22, 2023

(AEK/VK)