The Turkish opposition has expressed anger after ultra-nationalist Sinan Ogan threw his weight behind incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for the election run-off next Sunday.
Ogan came in third place in the general election’s first round on 14 May, winning only 5.2 percent of the votes. He is seen as a kingmaker in the polls, and many have suggested that whoever he endorses will likely becomes Turkey’s next president.
On Monday, Ogan announced that he would back Erdogan, who faces opposition candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu in the most important election in Turkey in decades.
Analysts question how much weight Ogan’s endorsement carries with his voters.
Many Turks slammed him on social media.
“I got a lot of votes for him, I convinced my family, but he sold us. My vote is for Kemal Kilicdaroglu,” one former Ogan supporter said.
Others shared a 2013 tweet by Ogan where he attacked Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP).
“The AKP is trying to marginalise the growing popular movement. Some marginal groups and AKP agents are attacking us. Be careful!” he writes in the tweet.
Source: newarab
