Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, chairman of Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), has claimed that the country’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) will suffer a significant loss of voters in the coming days, leading to a fundamental restructuring of Turkish politics.
Speaking during a Karar TV interview on Wednesday, Kılıçdaroğlu said the emergence of new political parties is the result of the AKP’s mismanagement.
“There is a shift seen among those who in the past grudgingly voted for the AKP out of a lack of sympathy for the CHP and a lack of viable alternatives,” Kılıçdaroğlu said. “I think in the coming days there will be large splits and that politics will be restructured.”
“Those who served in the same party for years defending transparency and accountability may leave and establish new parties when they see that these values are no longer respected. It’s a natural requirement of politics,” he said, presumably referring to Ali Babacan and Ahmet Davutoğlu, former AKP officials who recently unveiled their breakaway parties to challenge the AKP’s 17-year rule.
“Turkey has a deep-seated democracy problem. You cannot fix the economy without reinstituting democracy,” Kılıçdaroğlu added.