Former Turkish presidential candidate reveals tour bus for his new 'movement'

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Former presidential candidate Muharrem İnce kicks off new movement, slams CHP

Muharrem İnce, former presidential candidate for main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), on Aug. 31 revealed a tour bus for his new "movement" which he described as "Turkey's blessing."

On Aug. 13, İnce launched his movement of "The Country in 1,000 Days," which will practically be a tour of the country that'll start at the Central Anatolian province of Sivas on Sept. 4.

The reason why İnce chose Sept. 4 for launching his new movement is because this date marks the anniversary of the Sivas Congress, which a milestone on the Turkish Republic's road to independence.

"We are expecting all our comrades on the first day of this long journey on the condition that they wear masks and adhere to sanitary precautions," İnce tweeted.

Memleket Hareketi 4 Eylül Cuma Günü saat 10.00’da Sivas Nuri Demirağ Havalimanı’ndan yola çıkacak. Bu uzun yolculuğun ilk adımına bütün yol arkadaşlarımızı maske, mesafe ve hijyen kurallarına uymak koşuluyla bekliyoruz.

Memleket Hareketi Türkiye’nin Bereketi. pic.twitter.com/wjMVNa4DDA

— Muharrem İNCE (@vekilince) August 31, 2020

İnce was the CHP’s presidential candidate in the 2018 elections. He lost the election to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan but managed to garner 31 percent of the votes.

İnce's attitude on the night of the 2018 election is still criticized by the CHP as he was absent in the opposition's efforts to prevent election fraud, and his political career had subsequently weakened.

His decision to launch a breakaway political movement came after current CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu was re-elected for another term in July. Although İnce's move was not unexpected, experts have said that such a decision has a potential weaken the opposition against the People's Alliance in the upcoming elections.