Muharrem İnce suggests three-party alliance with opposition CHP, İYİ Party

Duvar English

Homeland Party (MP) chairman Muharrem İnce has called on the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) and İYİ (Good) Party to leave the Nation Alliance and instead form a new alliance with his party.

In remarks made on journalist Fatih Altaylı’s “Teke Tek” program on Habertürk TV channel on March 21, İnce argued that the Nation Alliance, consisting of six opposition parties, cannot be successful in tackling Turkey’s problems.

“Can alliances exist? Of course, they can. I offer an alliance to Turkey: CHP, İYİ Party, Homeland. It would fit like a glove. (Founder of the Turkish Republic) Atatürk, secularism, independence, these would not constitute as a problem. It would not discuss the Constitution’s first four articles, the Turkish flag, cults. If you are going to form an alliance, you will do it like this,” İnce said, arguing that both the ruling People’s Alliance and the opposition Nation Alliance are “alliances of interest.”

Referring to the Nation Alliance by its other name of “table of six,” İnce said: “They have been even unable to manage the table for the last one and a half year. How are they going to run Turkey? … Turkey has a rulership problem, but before that it has an opposition problem. To send this rulership away, we also have to send the opposition away.”

Defining himself as “a politician of streets,” İnce argued that he had the support of ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) voters. “I am getting a lot of support from the AKP (base). They also see that. Mr. Kemal is unable to, but I am,” he said, referring to the opposition bloc’s presidential candidate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu.

İnce further argued that his support level is four times more than that of four parties in the Nation Alliance. “I have certainly four times more votes than the total of four parties at the table (of six),” he said.

İnce further said that if he were to be elected as the president, he would send DEVA Party leader Ali Babacan, a former deputy prime minister and economy minister, to the Supreme Criminal Court (“Yüce Divan” in Turkish) to stand trial. İnce further said that he would bring Future Party leader Ahmet Davutoğlu, former prime minister, to book over his Syria policy. Both Babacan’s and Davutoğlu’s parties are part of the six-party Nation Alliance.

Despite calls on İnce to withdraw from the presidential race in favor of Kılıçdaroğlu, he on March 20 filed his candidacy application to the High Election Board (YSK).

During a speech in front of the YSK headquarters on March 20, İnce claimed that he would receive 60 percent of the votes in the presidential elections scheduled for May 14.

In the 2018 elections, İnce had run as the CHP’s presidential candidate and received 30 percent of the votes.