Tensions between Turkey’s opposition and the Russian government escalated over accusations of election interference on Friday after Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the joint presidential candidate of the opposition reiterated his claims that Russia was behind “deep fake” social media posts aimed at influencing Turkey’s upcoming election.
The Kremlin on Friday denied it was meddling in Turkey’s presidential election campaign, after Tayyip Erdogan’s main rival accused Moscow of spreading lies targeting him.
“We strongly reject such statements,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
He added that Moscow “highly values” its bilateral relations with Ankara.
“Turkey has a very responsible, sovereign and thought-through position on a whole range of regional and global problems that we face,” Peskov said.
But in a recent interview with Reuters, Kilicdaroglu doubled down on his claims, stating that his Republican People’s Party (CHP) had concrete evidence of Russia’s involvement.
“If we didn’t have concrete evidence, I wouldn’t have tweeted about it. I wanted the whole world to be aware of this,” he said, referring to his Thursday tweet where he called on “Russian friends to get your hands off the state of Turkey if you want our friendship to survive beyond 15 May:”
Kilicdaroglu also said that if he wins the election, he will press for a new peace initiative between Russia and Ukraine. “If we can reach a peace agreement, it will be very important for us and for the whole world. But we must be clear that we do not approve of any country invading another,” he said.
When asked whether he would support NATO’s expansion if he is elected, Kilicdaroglu replied, “Of course.” He added, “NATO is not only a military organization in the 21st century, but also an organization that defends democracy. We will continue our relations with NATO in the same framework as in the past.”
Source: Gerçek News
