Guner Tahir: Erdogan did not get the support he expected from our emigrants

Naturally, the result of the local elections in Turkey will have an impact on the elections in our country. This is what he said about the "This is Bulgaria" audiocast. of "Focus" Guner Tahir, chairman of the National Movement for Rights and Freedoms and one of the founders of DPS.

"Because we saw that in Turkey after the last local elections, which were held on March 31, there is a shift of layers, because the ruling party of President Erdogan for the first time in 23 years, I would say almost, for the first time, lost the election to the main opposition party – The People's Republican Party, who are social democrats. They are the first party for the first time since 1977, that is, since 47 years ago, when their chairman was the late Bulent Ecevit, former Prime Minister of Turkey. Then after the 1977 elections, they were local elections as well, he was prime minister until 1980 and then, as you know, on September 12, the military coup happened and then this party could not come first. It is significant that among the first 30 largest cities in Turkey, this party won 14, 12 – Erdogan's party, 3 major cities were won by the Kurds Party and 1 by the late Prof. Nejmetin Erbakan's party, which is now led by his son Fatih. They won one city, but among the first 10 cities, including the biggest ones, I mean Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Bursa, Antalya, Adana", he commented.

How will they affect our elections?

"In my opinion, it is an illusion what the co-chairman of the DPS, Jevdet Chakarov, said at his meetings, which he organizes now during Ramadan in Turkey, giving iftar or dinners to the emigrants, they are big iftars, 800-1000 people each. Basically, you know, in Turkey, food is a cult, that is, when you invite someone there for dinner, brunch or lunch, he will respond, no problem, but that doesn't mean he will vote for you. During these meetings, Mr. Chakarov announced that their goal in this upcoming election was to get 150,000 votes from Turkey, which they never managed. The maximum is 93,000 votes. And I think that Erdogan himself, who would have supported them, did not get the support he expected from our emigrants. And it is no coincidence that at the last National Conference on February 24 of the DPS, he came out with a video address to them. But once again we saw that our emigrants vote mostly for the People's Republican Party. And significant in this regard was Erdogan's loss in a city like Bursa. It is not by chance that this city is called “the capital of emigrants", explained Tahir.