All eyes on Ankara, as Erdogan meets with opposition leaders Agar and Mumcu
Güncelleme Tarihi:
As the presidential elections grow closer, all eyes have turned to the meetings to be held today between Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and opposition leader Mehmet Agar of the DYP. It is expected that in talking with Agar about the upcoming elections, Erdogan will ask for Agar's support for the AKP candidate, whomever that might be.
According to DYP party officials, Agar will most likely reiterate to Erdogan that he doesn't agree with the stance that some other opposition parties are taking in insisting that there must be 367 MPs present in the Turkish Parliament (TBMM) during the first round of voting. It is also however expected that Agar will tell Erdogan that if the PM himself is the AKP candidate for president, that the DYP will not lend its support to the AKP during any of the rounds of voting.
Another meeting at the focus of speculation in Ankara will be the meeting this afternoon between ANAVATAN leader Erkan Mumcu and Erdogan. Mumcu, though now the leader of a significant opposition party, was once an AKP member. After resigning from the AKP, he moved to the head of ANAVATAN, and Erdogan has been noted to leave the general assembly salon of the Turkish Parliament whenever Mumcu enters. The AKP has a total of 354 MPs in the Turkish Parliament. Because Speaker Bulent Arinc is not allowed to use his vote in the presidential elections, the AKP needs to find 14 more votes for its candidate. Erdogan is hoping to make up for the missing votes with votes from the DYP, which has 4 MPs in parliament, and the ANAVATAN, which has 20 MPs.Â