Kemal Kilicdaroglu, a presidential hopeful challenging Turkey’s incumbent Recep Tayyip Erdogan, pledged to expel refugees as he seeks the support of an anti-immigration party that could play a vital role in a runoff vote.
(Bloomberg) — Kemal Kilicdaroglu, a presidential hopeful challenging Turkey’s incumbent Recep Tayyip Erdogan, pledged to expel refugees as he seeks the support of an anti-immigration party that could play a vital role in a runoff vote.
Kilicdaroglu met nationalist politician Umit Ozdag, leader of the Zafer Party, on Friday. Its candidate, Sinan Ogan, got 5.2% of the votes in the first round on Sunday.
Kilicdaroglu needs to win over a big proportion of Zafer’s supporters to stand a chance of emerging victorious in the second round on May 28. He got 44.5% of the votes last weekend. Erdogan won 49.5%, more than polls had predicted and leaving him just short of the tally needed to extend his two decades in power.
On Thursday, Kilicdaroglu vowed to push out the world’s largest refugee population, most of them Syrians fleeing the war next door. “As soon as I come to power, I will send all refugees to their homes,” he said.
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