© Reuters. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses his supporters during a rally ahead of the presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled for May 14 in Istanbul, Turkey on May 7, 2023. REUTERS/Umit Bektas/File Photo
ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused the opposition on Monday of fomenting chaos and siding with terrorists in a fiery speech, days after a close and increasingly fractious election.
Erdogan appeared to indicate that his opponents had instigated confrontations the day before when he pelted crowds with a key opposition figure in the eastern city of Erzurum, a stronghold of the president’s Justice and Development Party.
Opinion polls indicate that Erdogan faces the biggest electoral challenge of his career in the presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled for May 14.
On Sunday, protesters threw stones at Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, a member of the main opposition Republican People’s Party who would be vice president if opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu wins the presidential election.
A day later, across the other side of Turkey during a rally in the western town of Edirne, Erdogan accused the opposition of being “pro-LGBT” and “taking sides with the terrorists”.
Analysts say he has hardened his rhetoric in an effort to boost his appeal among conservative and nationalist voters.
“They (the opposition) are shamelessly trying to discredit our cities by creating a spectacle with their own provocations,” Erdogan said, without directly referring to the events in Erzurum.
“They are looking for a cover for their expected defeat in the elections by provoking people and insulting them,” he added.
Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu also accused the opposition of inciting violence in Erzurum.
Soylu said Imamoglu’s wife excited the crowds by making a “V” sign at another rally last week – a gesture he said referred to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
“The people of Erzurum are very sensitive to nationalism. If you go to these cities and provoke them because of their sensitivities, God forbid,” Soylu said in a live broadcast late Sunday.
Imamoglu held another rally on Monday in the central city of Konya, another AKP stronghold.
“They can throw stones at us, but we will respond with flowers,” he said.
Imamoglu added, “The agitators will learn their lesson from the nation at the ballot box first, and then they will be tried in independent courts for their mistakes.”