Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu reveals the architect of the 'joint candidate' for the first time after 10 years!

Prof. Dr. Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu, who ran against AKP Chairman and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as the 'joint candidate' of the CHP and MHP in the 2014 Presidential Elections, has made notable statements.

İhsanoğlu, who drew attention with the slogan "Ekmeleddin for Bread" and received 38.44 percent of the vote, revealed who came up with the 'joint candidate' idea in an interview with T24 after 10 years.

Stating that the offer came from the MHP, İhsanoğlu said that the architect of the 'joint candidate' project was MHP Chairman Devlet Bahçeli.

The part of the interview regarding the 2014 election is summarized as follows:

You haven't spoken since 2014, or even since your time as an MP in the MHP ended. Shall we clarify how you became the 'joint candidate' of the CHP and MHP in 2014, at least?

-We returned to Turkey at the beginning of 2014. And when I returned to Turkey, I intended to make some contributions to cultural life, both domestically and abroad, and to write works. I had no intention of taking on any duties again. But my name had been mentioned among the candidates in the 2007 presidential elections. Do you know that? So, we were returning to Turkey, trying to settle down. This 'joint candidate' idea emerged.

Whose idea was it?

-The offer for presidential candidacy first came from the MHP. People from the MHP came to me. They brought this offer. I told them, "If I only become the MHP's candidate, we won't get enough votes, but if you put forward a joint candidate with the CHP, we could be successful." They said, "The CHP is not involved in this." I thanked them. I said this because if this had been an offer from the MHP alone, the votes of a single party are clear. If this is something that will bring these two parties together—one being a social democratic party and the other a conservative nationalist party—it is something that will provide the reconciliation that Turkey needs. I saw it that way. But later, the MHP Deputy Chairman came, and we met. He conveyed that the CHP had accepted my candidacy as a joint candidate and that they had agreed. You all know what happened next anyway.

So, in fact, the architect of this business was Devlet Bahçeli, is that right?

-Yes, that is how it looks from my perspective.

However, some think that the idea of showing you as a 'joint candidate' came from Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu.

-Now, I do not have the details regarding how the initiative was taken between the two sides on the issue of showing me as a joint candidate.

News Source: 12punto