Two days after incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan secured nearly half of the vote in the first round of the presidential elections, he gave an interview to CNN Türk Tuesday evening, his first TV appearance after a celebratory speech early Monday.
Erdoğan expressed his gratitude to his supporters and slammed "fake surveys" predicting an opposition victory.
He criticized pollsters for their manipulated survey results. “The main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) has turned into a party of surveys while the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) is the party of ballot boxes,” the president said.
Most survey companies in Türkiye had predicted that Kılıçdaroğlu would win by a wide margin in the first round of the elections. They had also predicted that the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), the partner of the AK Party in the People’s Alliance, has also lost support, but the elections proved otherwise as the party was able to gain over 10% of the vote.
"Our nation showed them the real survey on May 14 and they will do it again on the May 28 (runoff), God willing," Erdoğan said. The president in the past has voiced his lack of trust in opinion polls and reiterated his comments, saying he "trusted what the squares say" more, referring to election rallies he holds in main squares of cities.
The president often boasts of gathering large crowds in the rallies and carving out an image as a man of the people during his lengthy political career. He said people know who serves them better.
Presidential candidates are allowed to campaign again for the runoff but Erdoğan said he does not plan to hold rallies. Instead, he would hold gatherings with survivors of the Feb. 6 earthquakes that killed thousands in Türkiye's south to boost their morale after negative election-related comments. Some CHP supporters took to social media to criticize and insult earthquake survivors for voting in favor of the president and his alliance.
Some of them went as far as saying the quake survivors who voted for the ruling party should have died in the deadly earthquakes. The AK Party came out on top in Sunday's elections in nine of the 11 provinces hit by the earthquakes. Criticizing CHP supporters for their hateful comments, Erdoğan said it shows their insincerity.
"I will be visiting some parts of the earthquake region over the weekend. I do not plan to hold rallies, but we may hold rally-like gatherings in the earthquake zone," the president said. The president has vowed to rebuild the country's southeastern region by building a total of 650,000 new houses, 319,000 of which will be delivered in one year, and erase the devastation suffered by earthquake victims.
Thanking all citizens – regardless of their votes – for participating in the elections, the president said they all protected democracy and contributed to the country’s future.
Noting that he has completed holding talks with all leaders of the People’s Alliance on Tuesday, Erdoğan said his bloc and the governing AK Party have already started preparations for May 28 and would make the best use of the next 12 days.
“We stand by all of our pledges made during election rallies, and will start implementations after our people grant us permission on May 28,” he said.
Erdoğan urged citizens not to avoid voting in the runoff. "Let's go to ballot boxes for a great Türkiye victory," he called on voters in the interview.
Erdoğan also said he will have a strong Cabinet in the new period while eliminating the current shortcomings. He vowed to maintain contact with all leaders in the world in line with Türkiye's interests.
"We do not have such a thing as pulling a country and pushing a country away. There is no question of defying Russia as the CHP did," he said. Last week, Erdoğan's main rival Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu accused Russia of being behind leaked videos meant to discredit certain presidential candidates. Moscow, in return, rejected the accusations, saying there can be no question of any interference of Russia in the Turkish elections, and that "those who spread such rumors are liars."
"There is no leader that I am offended by. I am negotiating with all of them. When you throw a country aside, you lose," Erdoğan said on his future foreign policy plans.
