ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday called out the US ambassador’s for meeting the country’s opposition leader, saying that doors will be closed to the envoy.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of a youth branch of far-right ally Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), the Turkish president reiterated the official roles the diplomats needed to respect.
US ambassador to Turkey Jeff Flake met with Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) and candidate for the presidential elections, last week.
“He [the Ambassador] goes and meets with Mr Kemal. Shame on you, use your head. You are an ambassador. Your interlocutor here is the president," Erdogan said.
Erdogan added that their doors are closed on Flake, so he “knows his place” and his duties as an ambassador to Ankara.
“We have to teach America a lesson," Erdogan said, speaking to the officials of the Grey wolves-affiliated ultranationalist group.
Erdogan’s harsh remarks towards the US come ahead of the Turkish presidential and parliamentary elections set to take place on May 14.
Erdogan faces his toughest challenge as he confronts the strongest opposition front of the past 21 years as his popularity plunged in recent years.
Kilicdaroglu, the candidate of the 6-party coalition Nation Alliance, has vowed to unseat Erdogan and restore the parliamentary system that was replaced by a one-man presidential system.
In 2017, Turkey conducted a referendum on whether to approve 18 proposals of amendments to the Turkish constitution including changing the country’s system from parliamentary to presidential.
Pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), which is facing a party closure case, will enter the elections under the umbrella of the Green Left Party (Yesil Sol), the next hearing of the case is set for April 11.
HDP hailed as the kingmakers in the elections, gave their implicit support to Kilicdaroglu, by not having a presidential candidate.
