Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Kemal Kiliçdaroglu, his main rival, gathered huge crowds on Sunday, two weeks before presidential and legislative elections announced as disputed.
“Are you ready for May 14? Are you ready to overflow the ballot boxes? “Launched Mr. Erdogan from a park in Ankara, calling on his supporters who came en masse to knock on the doors of the undecided.
“Our nation, God willing, will eliminate them from the political scene! “, fumed the head of state, in power for twenty years, targeting the opposition alliance.
“Turkey will find the light! “Promised in return Kemal Kiliçdaroglu, who spoke shortly after from Izmir (West), Turkey’s third largest city and opposition stronghold, in front of a tide of supporters.
“These elections are there to rebuild our democracy,” declared the leader of the Republican People’s Party (CHP, social democrat), candidate of a coalition bringing together six opposition parties.
“We will bring peace […] and fraternity,” added the 74-year-old former senior civil servant.
The two candidates had already fought a remote duel on Saturday, Kemal Kiliçdaroglu in Kayseri, a conservative city in central Anatolia, and Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Izmir, where he won less than a third of the votes in the 2018 presidential election. .
Polls predict a tight election, the most perilous for Mr. Erdogan since he became prime minister in 2003.
The head of state, struggling with an intestinal virus, had to put his campaign on hold this week, after being forced on Tuesday evening to interrupt a live television interview.
But he congratulated himself on Saturday for having “taken over [son] programme”, promising not to “stop” until the double ballot on May 14.