Politico: In a speech Thursday, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu claimed that his rival, longtime President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has “deliberately allowed ten million refugees into Turkey,” saying the incumbent has put “Turkish citizenship on sale to get imported votes.”

“I am announcing here: I will send all refugees back home once I am elected as president, period,” he declared, according to Turkish media.

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What are your thoughts on this? I am not Turkish myself, but one thing I’ve noticed is that people tend to paint a rosy picture about Erdogan’s opposition by a Western standard: democratic, secular, pro-Western, liberal. I feel like only secular is true because journalists used to be thrown in jail before Erdogan (maybe to a lesser extent), and Turkish foreign policy was often nationalistic.

26 comments

  2. It’s a last try to win over the nationalistic voters I guess. Anti-Immigrants sentiment is strong in Turkey right now.

  5. This is why Erdogan needs to win.

    If this guy doesnt get a deal with Assad. Which he never will since Assad will demand troop withdrawal from Turkey before any talks.

    He will open the gates to Europe for refugees.

  6. Well.

    If Turkeys population is 85mil and they have indeed 10mil refugees that were let in by Erdogan and are eligible to vote there would indeed be a paradox happening.

    Although at max I could find was about 5million refugees. Which would be about 6% of the pulopulation.

    The paradox being that refugees might be sentimental towards keeping the government that let them in. If they indeed can vote .

  7. Hypocrisy disgusts me, nobody here would be fine with more than 10 million refugees while the country cannot even support its own citizens. He is trying to create safe zones and send them back to origin of country.

    I Dont understand you people here

    sending refugees to west BAD – oh no what are we gonna do

    Sending refugees back to their own country BAD – so cruel

    But letting them stay in Turkiye and ruin the country even more GOOD – its not my problem

    Hyprocrites nothing else

  8. Good afternoon,

    I would like to cancel my order of the new Lula 2023 edition. It’s defective. Can I return it to the post office?

    Thanks

  10. People are surprised but this is not a new position. The EU and Turkey under Erdogan have negotiated a horrible migrant deal under which Europe gets to pretend everything is alright and clean and Turkey and migrants are suffering.

    Part of ending this scheme is sending migrants back and negotiating a better deal, one which will improve the situation for everyone.

    As for being a nationalist: Have you met Turks? CHP is called a left party, but left and right mean literally nothing. They hold positions that would qualify them as center left in Western Europe, but also positions that would be called far right.

  12. This guy wants to cut a deal with a genocidal dictator, and then kick out millions of refugees in a forced Nazi-like deportation, and then join the EU so we have this country influencing our politics?

    Fuck that, let Erdogan win and fuck Turkey up, at least confine their BS to their own borders and keep the status quo. I am beginning to understand why Turks in Germany vote for Erdogan.

  13. Not new. Anyone following the election knows he isn’t better. Better for nato, maybe, but better overall? No.

  17. What a lovely political scene they have in Turkey. It even makes me appreciate Polish politics, which is saying something.

  18. Erdogan is also using them as bargaining chips with the EU, i feel like that’s being forgotten in these comments

  19. It is a shame that so many Redditors have no idea how the world works. They were sure that Russia is going to collapse soon in Ukraine, they were confident that Erdogan is going to lose, they probably believe that China is going to be the next superpower, they predict that Poland is going to be richer than the UK in ten years… How on earth are these people so delusional? Peter Pan guys pretending to be political experts?

  20. My foreign interpretation of the situation is that

    Erdogan is ultranationalistic, islamic, corrupt to the point where it ruins the country, authorian and megalomanic

    while Kılıçdaroğlu is the representant of the rest of the turks, including both ends of the extremist spectrum.

    **Tbh, i think this election is about the question if Turkey thinks it can be better than Erdogan’s traits. And the answer seems to be NO.**

  21. The Syrian civil war is not officially over, but if you look at the situation, there is no actual war there. That’s why refugees should be sent back to their countries. They look at women badly in Turkey all the time.

  22. Let’s go, Europe, and give this guy all your support!
    Another refugee crisis is a small price to pay for a chance at a more russophobic president of Turkey… /s

  24. Turkey has led the world in sheltering refugees for most of the past 2000 years. Istanbul/Constantinople has accepted so many refugees over the millennia that it picked up the nickname refuge for strangers.

    It would be really sad to see that tradition end

  25. Addressing major issues in a country is not a new move in a political world, it has actually been done for couple thousand years.

  26. Typical trash journalism and their bait titles

    Title: I’ll kick all refugees out of Turkey, Erdoğan rival vows

    Actual words: I will send all refugees back home once I am elected as president, period

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