The Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) and the U.S. are behind the smear campaigns targeting Muharrem Ince, the chairperson of the Homeland Party (MP), Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu said Friday.

Soylu’s words came after presidential candidate Ince on Thursday withdrew from Türkiye's cut-throat presidential election in a shocking move after being targeted by an online smear campaign that included doctored images of him meeting women and riding around in fancy cars.

Speaking on CNN Türk, Soylu said: "Muharrem Ince was attacked in this election. The attack came from outside. The origin and source of the attack are known, it is clear by whom it was made. The perpetrator is clear. The perpetrator is FETÖ and America."

He elaborated that these kinds of incidents were marks from the previous era of Türkiye where FETÖ would use such videos.

Soylu said that this proved FETÖ and the U.S. were intervening in Türkiye’s elections. He added that an investigation was launched to uncover who exactly was behind the attack.

"I'm withdrawing my candidacy," Ince told reporters ahead of Sunday's presidential and parliamentary ballot. "I am doing this for my country."

Ince had come under fierce attack from the opposition for entering the campaign just two months before the vote.

Critics saw him as a spoiler candidate who would split the votes of the opposition trying to unseat President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Ince argued he offered voters a more vibrant alternative to the 74-year-old Republican People's Party (CHP) Chairperson Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu – a bookish former civil servant with a dire national election record against Erdoğan.