Karwan Faidhi Dri
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - After failing to unseat Turkish President Recep Tayyip #Erdogan# in the first round of voting on Sunday, opposition presidential candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu has made a dramatic shift in his campaign ahead of the runoff vote later this month. He is courting nationalist voters who are seen as kingmakers and avoids mentioning Kurds.

Ahead of the first vote, Kilicdaroglu was widely praised for forming a broad coalition and hailed as the man to end Erdogan’s two-decade rule. He was the presidential candidate of six opposition parties within the Nation Alliance.

The alliance, which includes the far-right IYI Party, refused to allow the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (#HDP# ) to join, fearing it might anger nationalist voters. However, Kilicdaroglu did secure the support of HDP and its leftist allies. “There is nothing more natural than my visit to HDP,” Kilicdaroglu said before visiting the party and obtaining their backing.

Kilicdaroglu is an Alevi from the Kurdish province of Dersim (Tunceli) and in him Kurds placed their hopes for some relief from state oppression. Ebru Gunay, HDP spokesperson, told Rudaw English in March that Kilicdaroglu’s candidacy is “the most positive outcome of the Nation Alliance according to the current conditions.”

A new campaign

On May 14, Erdogan got 49.52 percent of the votes while Kilicdaroglu took 44.88 percent, despite receiving overwhelming support from Kurdish areas in southeast Turkey. The third candidate, Sinan Ogan, supported by an ultranationalist alliance, surprisingly received over five percent of the votes and kept both frontrunners from getting the majority they need. Erdogan and Kilicdaroglu are both now vying for Ogan’s support as they campaign ahead of the second round of voting on May 28.

After the first round, Kilicdaroglu has taken a much harder tone on two issues that are top priority for nationalists - refugees and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

When campaigning ahead of the first vote, Kilicdaroglu said several times that, if elected, he would free former HDP co-chair Selahattin Demirtas from jail, signalling an end to anti-HDP crackdowns and cross-border operations against the PKK. His conciliatory policies towards Kurds were fodder for his rival’s electoral campaign.

Erdogan and his party accused Kilicdaroglu and his Republican People’s Party (CHP) of having ties with the PKK because of their good relations with HDP, which is facing a court case seeking the party’s closure due to alleged links with the PKK.

In his first campaign speech after the first round, Kilicdaroglu declared in a loud voice: “Erdogan, aren't you the one who sat at the table with terrorist organizations many times and made secret bargains behind the door without our nation’s knowledge? How dare you question our patriotism! How dare you slander us! Here I am re-declaring it clearly and unequivocally. I declare to all my citizens - I have never sat down with terrorist organizations and never will. Period!

Erdogan’s government in 2013 announced a short-lived ceasefire with the PKK following meetings between Ankara and PKK officials, including its jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan.

On Friday, Nation Alliance member Felicity Party (SP) shared a video in which it criminalised good relations between Turkey and the Kurdistan Region. Footage of Masoud Barzani, former president of the Region, taken in 2013 when he visited Turkey, was shown in the video. The party was widely criticised for demonising Barzani and hours later it deleted the video.

Ekrem Imamoglu, mayor of Istanbul, who has been campaigning for Kilicdaroglu for weeks, told a young man on the street on Friday that his alliance does not support the PKK and slammed state media for interviewing Ocalan’s brother, Osman.

RELATED: What can Kilicdaroglu offer Turkey’s Kurds?

Kilicdaroglu has not acknowledged HDP’s support or thanked them, fearing this could be seen as confirmation of their good ties. Despite this and his shift in tone, HDP appears to still be backing him.

“It is our duty to stand upright against this fascism and to expand this struggle. We have an opportunity ahead of us. We have one last chance to choose between light and dark. On May 28, we all have to deal with this opportunity, which we will choose between fascism and democracy, with care and importance,” HDP co-chair Pervin Buldan said on Thursday.

The second hot button issue for nationalist voters is the presence of over 3.6 million Syrian refugees. The start of the Syrian civil war in 2011 was followed by an influx of Syrians to Turkey, with many of them obtaining Turkish citizenship. Anti-refugee sentiment in Turkey has grown as part of a backlash as the economy worsened.

Kilicdaroglu did mention Syrian refugees during his presidential campaign before May 14 and promised to send them home, but he reiterated this stance with stronger language on Thursday, blaming Erdogan for allowing the refugees to stay in Turkey.

“Erdogan, you did not protect the borders and honor of the country. You have deliberately brought more than 10 million refugees into this country. This was not enough. You sold the citizenship of the Republic of Turkey at an auction to get imported votes. You have made our own citizens refugees. I declare here - as soon as I come to power, I will send all refugees home. Point! said Kilicdaroglu.

The Turkish government has returned hundreds of thousands of Syrians across the border and plans to send back one million more.

Courting the nationalists

Kilicdaroglu’s and his alliance’s shift in rhetoric is a bid to please nationalist Turks, Altan Tan, a veteran Kurdish politician and former HDP lawmaker, told Rudaw English on Friday. “Now Kilicdaroglu imitates them to get the support of Sinan Ogan, who is a former MHP lawmaker,” he said. Ultranationalist Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) is a de facto governing partner with Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP).

Kilicdaroglu on Friday visited the leader of the Victory Party that is the backbone of Ogan’s nationalist Ancestral Alliance (ATA). Umit Ozdag is a far-right politician, infamous for his racist comments about Syrian refugees and Kurds. After their meeting, Ozdag told reporters that he asked Kilicdaroglu some questions, received answers, and his party will evaluate the responses to decide whom to support.

Later the same day, Ogan was received by Erdogan at his presidential palace in Istanbul. It is not clear what they discussed.

Ogan has announced five conditions for supporting either of the candidates, including “uninterrupted fight against terrorist organisations,” return of Syrian refugees in the near future, and the exclusion of HDP from the next cabinet.

With both presidential candidates courting the nationalists, it leaves Kurds out in the cold, according to Tan. “If either Erdogan or Kilicdaroglu win the vote, Kurds will still be empty-handed,” he said.

With just a few days left before Turkey’s decisive vote, only time will determine if HDP voters, which are estimated to be around five million, will again vote for Kilicdaroglu or opt to not show up at the ballot boxes at all. [1]