Turkey’s Erdogan attacks ‘pro-LGBT’ opposition in tight election race

‘We will bury those pro-LGBT in the ballot box’

Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has attacked the opposition for being “pro-LGBT” at a rally just a week before crucial elections in the country.

Presidential elections in Turkey are due on 14 May this year. The contest this year is so far leading up to be a close contest between Mr Erdogan and his rival Kemal Kilicdaroglu, showed opinion polls, with the former ahead by more than four points.

Appealing to his vote bank in Istanbul on Sunday, Mr Erdogan said his “AK Party [AKP] and other parties in our alliance would never be pro-LGBT, because family is sacred to us”.

“We will bury those pro-LGBT in the ballot box.”

He also attacked Mr Kilicdaroglu, who heads the main opposition alliance.

“My people will not allow drunks and boozers to take the stage. Mr Kemal, you can drink barrels of it, nothing can cure you. My nation will make the necessary response on May 14. We will not allow Kilicdaroglu, who is hand in hand with terrorists, to divide our homeland,” he said.

A few days ago, Mr Erdogan had said in a separate election rally that he is “against the LGBT” community.

Mr Kilicdaroglu, meanwhile, told a rally on Saturday: “If I am elected, I will turn Turkey into a paradise where everyone lives in peace.”

The Daily Sabah said polling stations closed in most countries worldwide for the upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections on Sunday.

It said that voting for Turkish citizens ended as of 9pm local time at Turkish diplomatic missions and border gates in many European countries, as well as North America, Central Asia and the Middle East, while it will continue in Austria, Denmark, France, Germany and Luxembourg on Tuesday from 9am to 9pm local time.

Those who couldn’t vote during the designated period can cast their ballots at 46 customs gates until 5pm on 14 May, reports said.

As of Sunday, over 1.6 million Turkish citizens abroad had cast their votes to elect the country’s new president and parliamentary representatives, according to Turkey’s Supreme Election Council.

On Sunday, Mr Erdogan addressed a “historic” crowd of 1.7 million people ahead of the 14 May polls. “We have increased national income three times in 21 years. We have built 10.5 million houses and provided homes for our families.”

Speaking about the devastating 6 February earthquakes, he said: “We removed the ruins in three months and started the construction of new houses. The number of residences and village houses, whose construction process has started, has reached 142,000, and the number of houses whose foundations have been laid has reached 59,000.”

“We are working to revive our cities with 650,000 houses, of which approximately 319,000 will be delivered within a year,” he said.

Mr Erdogan also accused Mr Kilicdaroglu of getting support from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has been waging an insurgency since the 1980s in which more than 40,000 people have been killed. It is considered a terrorist group by Turkey, the US and the European Union.

The opposition has previously denounced claims by Mr Erdogan linking them to terrorists as divisive and dangerous campaign rhetoric.

Some protesters, meanwhile, threw stones at Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, a member of the main opposition Republican People’s Party, during an election rally in the eastern city of Erzurum, a stronghold of the AK Party.

Additional reporting by agencies