As Türkiye’s main opposition candidate, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu’s big-tent strategy gets new support from the U.S. and Europe media on daily basis. So much so that almost every so-called Türkiye expert in the think tanks on either side of the Atlantic is ready to bet their last dollar about his victory. Some of them summoned up their courage so much that they started to call on U.S. President Joe Biden to punish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for Türkiye’s alleged drone strike on the PKK terrorist group's Syrian wing YPG's top commander Ferhat Abdi Şahin (code-named "Mazloum Kobani") in Iraq.

Sinan Ciddi, a non-resident fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) in Washington, D.C., called on Biden "to stop humoring Erdoğan" because Washington’s efforts to manage Türkiye’s security concerns are encouraging Erdoğan to become defiant, and – please hang on to your hat – "this defiant rhetoric plays well with Turkish voters, who are poised to vote in May to determine whether Erdoğan remains as president for another five years."

You don't have to be a fellow in a neocon think-tank in Washington to see the vertical relation between "humoring Erdoğan" and harming Kılıçdaroğlu’s chance to finally win an election after losing 10 previous elections against Erdoğan and his Justice and Development (AK Party). They all think that Kılıçdaroğlu’s "big-tent" strategy could finally pay off in the upcoming presidential elections in May.

His "big tent" puts to shame all the big tents that have been created throughout the history of democracy since Cleisthenes created the concept in 508 B.C. in Athens. You must have witnessed large election alliances and coalitions, but Kılıçdaroğlu’s Nation Alliance, which is also known as the "table for six," contains Turkish nationalists and Kurdish separatists, radicals as well as ultra-secularists, and proponents of the statist economic development model of their planned economy as well as the champions of private sector based free market system. This hotchpotch of an alliance has so far agreed on promises made with broad brush strokes set to be implemented if elected. However, the document comprises about 2,000 broad articles that they finally agreed upon after 16 months of intense negotiations and has contradictory promises in it ("high-interest rate policy for the central bank" and "increased investment and higher domestic production").

Probably, this mediocrity was volitional to avoid an early disintegration, but it did not work. Two days before its announcement of a presidential candidate, Good Party (IP) leader Meral Akşener broke ranks with the "table for six," saying that her party would not support the Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kılıçdaroğlu as the joint candidate because he was "unelectable." Yet, during those two days, she agreed to rejoin the alliance even though neither the alliance articles nor its candidate’s electability index had changed. Kılıçdaroğlu promised to use the two mayors of Ankara and Istanbul as vice presidents if elected; apparently, this promise was good enough to make him "electable" for Ms. Akşener.

Big tent or proven policies

So, in 28 days, Turkish voters are going to vote either for the big-tent alliance with no known political, financial-fiscal or social promises or for the continuation of Erdoğan's known and proven policies based on energy independence, self-sufficiency in defense, production- and export-oriented economic and fiscal priorities.

Perhaps I shouldn’t depict the alliance as lacking known political priorities; as we go into the thick of the election rallies and TV interviews, Mr. Kılıçdaroğlu has begun promising certain political steps in Türkiye’s foreign relations. We don’t know if those promises have been negotiated at the "table for six" and endorsed by all the partners in advance; but Kılıçdaroğlu said at a fast-breaking iftar dinner for the ambassadors of the Islamic countries represented in Ankara last week, that, if elected, he would establish an organization called "Peace and Cooperation in the Middle East" with Türkiye, Iran, Iraq and Syria.

When you talk about "peace and cooperation," nothing appears to be detrimental to the regional relations of those countries. But when you claim in your next sentence that, "We have a common objective for the Middle East," then a few eyebrows will be raised.

Right at this time, Türkiye’s foreign minister is expecting to meet with his Iranian and Syrian counterparts in a meeting to be hosted by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Türkiye has no common objective with Iran, at this time. Türkiye is trying to eliminate the PKK terrorists in Syria, and Iran has been known to be taking those terrorists under its wing. Not only that, but Iran is also forcing Syria to turn a blind eye to the presence of the PKK’s extension on its territory. The PKK’s main core (known by the name of its campsite on the Qandil Mountains) is known to flee to Iranian territory when the Turkish land forces and armed drones are pursuing them over the border.

Iran?

Iran and its proxies and allies seem to be organizing a new multi-front conflict with Israel, thanks to the mullahs’ misunderstanding (or abusing) the Chinese-led rapprochement with Saudi Arabia and other Arab neighbors of Iran.

Israel’s indefensible apartheid against Palestinians in the occupied Arab lands in general and in East Jerusalem, in particular, has culminated to new heights of inhumanity during the holy month of Ramadan. This is a fact and one way to stop Israel is what Türkiye does: Ask international organizations and sensible Israeli leaders to cease and desist that unacceptable enmity toward Palestinians. But the groups under Iran’s control have grown with more and more rockets, and more sophisticated systems, such as the precision-guided munitions and drones used against Israeli civilians. The way to stop Israel from killing innocent Palestinians shouldn’t be killing innocent Jews.

Iran’s entrenchment in Syria is also another dangerous factor that not only threatens Israel but also provides excuses for the U.S. because some groups protected by Iran are believed to be stoking Daesh there. That assumption keeps the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) providing more and more logistics, arsenal, ammunition and money to the PKK extensions in the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), also known as Rojava, in Syria.

Iranian-supported groups in Syria would not harm a hair on Israel’s head, but they would allege a pretext for the probable dismemberment of Syria and Iraq. Türkiye, now a regional power thanks to Erdoğan’s 20-year policy of energy independence, self-sufficiency in defense, and strong and disciplined economic and fiscal policies, should not promise a blanket alliance to Iran and its proxies in Iraq and Syria. Negotiations to bring Iran back into the folds of peace-loving nations would need more than singing "Kumbayah" in dinners in Ankara hotels in a "traditional meeting of Islamic ambassadors" up until now nobody knew about.

The 74-year-old leader of the CHP has been involved in Turkish politics since 2002; however, he does not have experience in running a government. In 1971, Kılıçdaroğlu served as an account specialist in the Ministry of Finance, but it apparently did not make him an expert in the intricate international relations of the Middle East.