Turkey Election Update: Opposition Candidate Accuses Russia of Interference

Turkey election opposition candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu claims that Russia is interfering in the elections
The Kremlin promptly rejected the accusation, saying Moscow does not interfere in the internal affairs of other states
Kilicdaroglu's remarks come amid his challenge to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Turkey's opposition candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu has accused Russia of interfering in his country's ongoing election.

However, the Kremlin has denied the claims that it was meddling in the internal affairs of other states. In a statement, Russian spokesman Dmitry Peskov added that they were liars if someone gave Kilicdaroglu such information.

Kemal Kilicdaroglu Accuses Russia of Election Interference

The comments of the opposition candidate come amid his challenge of strongman President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has been in power in the country for the last 20 years. Kilicdaroglu, despite making the claims, did not provide any details about them.

Kilicdaroglu also posted on Twitter that Russia is responsible for the "montages, plots, deep fake content, and tapes" released in Turkey. That particular tweet was also shared in Russian on Thursday, as per BBC.

The Turkish opposition added that if Moscow wanted to secure a "friendship" with Turkey following the election this weekend, it should get its hands off the state. He noted that despite the situation, they still favored cooperation and friendship.

On the other hand, Peskov noted that Russia continues to value its relations with Turkey despite the comments. On Friday, he added that the country has taken a "very responsible, sovereign, and thought-out stance on a whole range of regional and global problems."

The recent Twitter post was not the first reference to Russia's alleged election interference that Kilicdaroglu made. He warned government officials earlier this month against making deals with what he called the "dark web" to "interfere" in the elections.

The situation comes as polls suggest that Turkey's election is a tight race between Erdogan and Kilicdaroglu but showed a slight lead for the opposition candidate. According to CNN, if neither candidate wins a majority in the first round of elections on May 14, a second round will be held on May 28.

Russia-Turkey Relationship

Turkey, a NATO-member country with the second-largest army within the military alliance, has continued strengthening its alliance with Russia. In 2019, the country also bought weapons from Moscow in defiance of the United States.

Furthermore, as other countries started to boycott Russia's energy supply, Turkey went so far as to extend its dependency on Moscow. The situation was a result of the Kremlin's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

Major media outlets have called the latest Turkish elections the most important of 2023 as many in the West are hoping that someone would be able to beat Erdogan. They hope that a new administration would be a more accommodating liberal leadership that would work on a change to the nation's domestic and international policies.

Many in the West refer to Erdogan as "the other Putin," a reference to Russian President Vladimir Putin. They consider the Turkish president as a populist, divisive autocrat who is determined to pursue his dream of an empire, said Aljazeera.