'Shame on you': Erdogan to US envoy in Ankara

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
3 Apr 2023 09:59
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The Turkish presidency closes its doors to the US ambassador to Turkey following his meeting with the leader of the Turkish opposition.

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan delivers a statement on national television from his official residence in Istanbul, Sunday, June 24, 2018. (AP)

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday that his doors were closed to US Ambassador to Turkey Jeffrey Flake after he met with opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu, Erdogan's main opponent in the upcoming elections.

"[US President] Joe Biden's ambassador visits Kemal. Shame on you, think with your head. You are an ambassador. Your interlocutor here is the president. How will you stand up after that and ask for a rendezvous with the president? Our doors are closed for him, he can no longer come in. Why? He needs to know his place," Erdogan said on Sunday, as quoted by the Turkish Star newspaper.

Turkish 🇹🇷 President Recep Tayyip Erdogan @RTErdogan said that his doors are closed to US 🇺🇸 Ambassador to Turkiye @USEmbassyTurkey Jeffry Flake @JeffFlake who has met with opposition candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu @kilicdarogluk last week https://t.co/GKbmemPPwO pic.twitter.com/Fekdm6a1lg
— Saad Abedine (@SaadAbedine) April 3, 2023

As presidential and parliamentary elections are scheduled to be held on May 14, Kilicdaroglu has assembled an opposition alliance made up of six parties.

The list of presidential candidates further includes Muharrem Ince from the Homeland Party and Sinan Ogan, backed by the ATA Alliance.

A survey conducted between January 13 and March 14 by research agency MetroPOLL revealed that 44.6% of respondents out of 2,046 participants would vote for Kilicdaroglu. Incumbent President Erdogan would on the other hand receive 42% of the votes.

The elections are anticipated to be the most polarized this year, determining the fate of 85 million citizens in the nation spanning two continents. The elections are supposed to be a litmus test for Erdogan's job performance, and will be the second election since Turkey switched from a parliamentary to a presidential system following a 2017 referendum that granted Erdogan broad new powers.

At the beginning of this month, Kilicdaroglu was chosen as the main opposition candidate, and he now poses as Erdogan's main election threat. He is already leading against Erdogan by more than 10 percentage points ahead of the elections.

Erdogan is facing the biggest challenge to his 20-year rule due to economic issues and the high cost of living, not to mention that victims of the earthquake are reconsidering where their loyalties lie after the disaster struck.

The elections will not only decide who will lead Turkey, but they will also decide which direction Turkey's economy will take.