Nationalist politician Sinan Oğan, who came third in Türkiye’s landmark presidential elections on May 14, is boasting his newfound status as "key" to victory in next Sunday’s runoff vote now that he’s out of the race.
"We have awakened an awareness with the principles we have been fighting for and made Turkish nationalism and Atatürkism a top item on Türkiye’s agenda again," Oğan said in a Twitter thread on Saturday evening.
Oğan, the contender of the ATA Alliance, won 5.28% support in last Sunday’s polls, where incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan secured 49.24%, and his main challenger Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu got 46.7% of the vote, necessitating a runoff election on May 28 between the top two runners.
The 55-year-old former academic has been confident he can get the 2.8 million people who voted for him to support the candidate he endorses next Sunday.
Oğan, who was backed by an anti-refugee party, has ceaselessly campaigned for secular values conceived by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk – the founder of modern Türkiye, increased Turkish nationalism, intensified crackdown on terrorist groups like PKK and the Gülenist Terrorist Group (FETÖ), and the expulsion of over 5 million refugees from the country.
His harsh anti-migrant rhetoric is contrary to Erdoğan’s all-embracing policy, but an official from Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) has recently claimed there wasn’t much the two couldn’t agree on "as they both argue similar things, especially regarding migrants and terror groups."
Oğan and Erdoğan met late on Friday for a closed-door meeting and discussed the runoff, days after the opposition side revealed plans for Kılıçdaroğlu to hold talks with him to try and secure his support.
According to tags on Oğan’s tweets, he will likely announce his preferred candidate on Monday.
In 11 points that outlined his alliance’s "accomplishments" in the pre-election period, Oğan claimed they managed to "destroy the ‘kingmaker’ perception around the HDP" and "put Turkish nationalist voters, who have been pushed aside and considered spare between two alliances, back in the center of Türkiye’s politics."
The HDP – formally the Peoples’ Democratic Party – is associated with the PKK and has been fighting a closure lawsuit over alleged aiding and abetting. It has some 10% support nationwide and opted to back Kılıçdaroğlu in the race. It also ran under the banner of the Green Left Party (YSP) to dodge the lawsuit and together, they won 61 seats in the race for 600-member Parliament.
"We have enabled candidates competing in the second round to cling to our words. As a result, we now can determine the main agenda of the presidential runoff," Oğan wrote on Twitter.
He claimed the ATA Alliance’s anti-refugee calls have helped both alliances, Erdoğan’s People’s Alliance and Kılıçdaroğlu’s Nation Alliance, to draft a "send back schedule."
Since losing the first round of elections, Kılıçdaroğlu’s anti-refugee rhetoric too became more hawkish as he renewed his vow to send back 3.5 million Syrians that fled civil war to find asylum in Türkiye over the past decade, a marked indication he’s looking to appeal to Oğan’s voters.
"Our moral and refined political style has garnered the appreciation and support of our people and we have raised awareness with our sheer politics. So keep following us," Oğan said.