The leaders of six opposition parties emerged before the crowd after a five-hour meeting, and Felicity Party’s leader Temel Karamollaoglu publicly announced that the presidential candidate of the bloc is Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader of main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP).
Kilicdaroglu made a short address, and quoted Yunus Emre, a 14th century Islamic Sufi mystic and poet: “If we share we’ll fare well, if we’re divided we’ll perish.”
He also announced that the leaders of the other five parties were to be appointed co-vice presidents after an election victory.
The decision to nominate Kilidaroglu was taken mere hours after Meral Aksener, the leader of Turkey’s nationalist Good Party, was convinced to return to the bloc. She had signaled exit on Friday by accusing other party leaders of “imposing” Kilicdaroglu’s candidacy, giving precedence to “personal agendas and ambitions” over national interests, and violating the principle of taking the decisions unanimously.