Joint candidate opposed by 42 former CHP MPs and ministers

The joint presidential candidate of the opposition CHP and MHP, Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu was opposed by 42 former CHP congressmen and ministers on Monday with a signed statement by the politicians.

The announcement stated that Ihsanoglu will not be able to support the Republic of Turkey's principles as a secular and democratic nation. The joint candidate was criticized heavily in the statement saying that he was against the founding father of Turkey, Atatürk. The 42 politicians expressed disappointment in the people who voted for Ihsanoglu to be the joint candidate to be the runner for the upcoming presidential elections.

They expressed that they should turn back form the 'mistake' while there is still time and change the candidate. The politicians expressed that if they continue with Ihsanoglu as their candidate that they will obviously lose.

The 42 people who signed the statement are as followed:

"Kemal Anadol, Mehmet Boztaş, Onur Öymen, Ergün Aydoğan, Mustafa Kemal Palaoğlu, Algan Hacaloğlu, Şahin Mengü, Vedat Yücesan, Cevdet Selvi, Salih Gün, İsmail Özay, Ufuk Özkan, İsa Ayhan Aydın, Abdürrezak Erten, Kasım Parlar, Orhan Eraslan, Orhan Akbulut, Tuncay Ercenk, Engin Ünsal, Hakkı Akalın, Tayfun İçli, Prof. Dr Necla Arat, Mehmet Neşşar, Rahmi Güler, Suat Binici, Hulusi Güvel, Gökhan Durgun, Fuat Çay, Zekeriya Akıncı, Önay Alpago, Ali Rıza Bodur, Bülent Baratalı, Esfender Korkmaz, Enis Tütüncü, Hikmet Erenkaya, Tacidar Seyhan, Mesut Değer, Şerif Ertuğrul, Mehmet Sevigen, Mahmut Yıldız, Adülaziz Yazar, Canan Arıtman."