ElectionPresidential Candidates - 14 May 2023 | Yeni Şafak
Presidential Candidates 14 May 2023
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan President
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was born on February 26, 1954 in the Kasımpaşa district of Istanbul. He was known for his athletic abilities and played amateur football from 1969 to 1982. Erdoğan was involved in the National Turkish Students' Association from his high school years and began his active political career in the National Salvation Party (MSP). He was elected as the President of the Beyoğlu Youth Branch first and then as the President of the Istanbul Youth Branch. In 1982, he went to the military as a reserve officer. In 1984, he was appointed as the District President of the Refah Party in Beyoğlu, and in 1985, he became the Provincial President in Istanbul. He also became a member of the Central Executive Board of the Refah Party. In the local elections held in 1989, he became a candidate for the Mayor of Beyoğlu. Despite being elected as a member of parliament in 1991, he could not enter the parliament due to the preferential voting system. He was elected as the Mayor of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality in the local elections held on March 27, 1994. On December 12, 1997, he was sentenced to 10 months in prison for reciting a poem. He completed his sentence at the Kırıkkale Pınarhisar Prison on July 24, 1999. On August 14, 2001, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan founded the Justice and Development (AK) Party and was elected as the party's leader by the Founding Board. Due to a ban on his candidacy, he could not run for parliament in the elections held on November 3, 2002. He entered the parliament after the renewed elections in Siirt on March 9, 2003. On March 15, 2003, he became the Prime Minister after Abdullah Gül's resignation. His party won the elections on March 28, 2004, July 22, 2007, March 29, 2009, June 12, 2011, and March 30, 2014. In the presidential election held in 2014, he became the first president elected by the public. In the June 24 elections, he became the common candidate of the People's Alliance and won the presidency again with 53% of the vote. He is running again as the common candidate of the People's Alliance in the presidential elections to be held on May 14, 2023.
Muharrem İnce Homeland Party Chairman
Muharrem Ince was born on May 4th, 1964 in the village of Elmalik, Yalova, as the son of Sherif-Zekiye. After completing his primary and secondary education in Yalova, he graduated from Uludag University with a degree in Physics and Chemistry Education. He worked as a physics teacher in high schools and private courses and served as a school principal. In addition, he served as the press spokesman for Yalovaspor and as the provincial chairman of the Ataturk Thought Association. Ince has been an uninterrupted member of parliament for Yalova since 2002 and served as a member of the National Education, Culture, Youth and Sports Committee in the 22nd and 23rd terms, as well as the Deputy Group Chairman of the Republican People's Party (CHP) in the 23rd and 24th terms, and as a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of Turkic-Speaking Countries (TURKPA). Ince has been in the spotlight from time to time due to his opposition to the party leadership and Kemal Kilicdaroglu. He resigned as Deputy Group Chairman on August 18th, 2014 and ran for the CHP leadership at the party congress. However, he lost to Kilicdaroglu with 415 votes against Kilicdaroglu's 740. Ince ran again for the leadership at the 36th Ordinary Congress on February 3rd, 2018, receiving 447 votes while Kilicdaroglu received 790 votes. Ince is married and has one child, and has written four books titled "Tatanka," "Bu Kacinci Kirlenisin Beyaz," "1 Ileri 5 Geri," and "Buyurun Sayin Ince/Siz Yokken Meclis Sonuna Kadar Calisiyordu." In the 2018 presidential election, Ince ran as the CHP's candidate and came in second with 26% of the vote, trailing behind Erdogan. On February 8th, 2021, he resigned from the CHP and on May 17th, 2021, he founded a new political party called the Homeland Party. In preparation for the upcoming presidential election on May 14th, 2023, Ince applied to the High Election Board as a presidential candidate and successfully collected the necessary 100,000 signatures by March 25th, 2023.
Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu CHP Chairman
Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu was born in 1948 in the Nazımiye district of Tunceli. He received his primary and secondary education in various Anatolian cities such as Erciş, Tunceli, Genç, and Elazığ. In 1971, Kılıçdaroğlu graduated from Ankara Academy of Economic and Commercial Sciences (now Gazi University Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences) and began his career as an Assistant Tax Inspector at the Ministry of Finance after passing the Tax Inspector Assistantship Exam. In 1991, Kılıçdaroğlu was assigned to Bağ-Kur and later became the General Director of Social Security Institution in 1992. He then served as the Deputy Undersecretary of the Ministry of Labor and Social Security for a short period of time. In 1999, Kılıçdaroğlu retired from the Social Security Institution. After his retirement, Kılıçdaroğlu worked as a member of the Board of Directors at Türkiye’s İş Bank. He then entered politics and was elected as a Member of Parliament for Istanbul from the Republican People's Party (CHP) in the 2002 general elections. Kılıçdaroğlu served as a member of the CHP Central Executive Committee and was elected as a Member of Parliament for Istanbul in the 23rd term in the 2007 general elections. He held the position of CHP Group Deputy Chairman until he announced his candidacy for the party's leadership. In the 33rd Ordinary Congress of the CHP held on May 22, 2010, Kılıçdaroğlu was elected as the party's leader. On May 14, 2023, Kılıçdaroğlu was announced as the presidential candidate for the People's Alliance in the upcoming presidential elections.
Sinan Oğan Presidential Candidate for the ATA Alliance
Sinan Oğan was born on September 1, 1967, in the town of Melekli in Türkiye’s Iğdır, to an Azerbaijani-Turkish family. He graduated from the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences at Marmara University and completed his master's degree at the same university. He also completed his doctoral studies at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO). He is fluent in Russian and has an academic level of English. He worked as a research assistant at the Institute of Turkic Studies at Marmara University and as a lecturer and Deputy Dean at the Azerbaijan State Economic University. He became the representative of the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TİKA) in Azerbaijan and was awarded the "State Medal" by the President of Azerbaijan. He served as the Head of the Russia-Ukraine Research Desk at the Eurasian Strategic Research Center (ASAM) and founded and served as the President of TÜRKSAM. He has published three books and over 500 articles. He received awards such as the "Social Sciences" award from Milliyet Newspaper, the "Academic Excellence" award from Marmara University, and the "Service to the Turkic World" award from the Ekoavrasya Association. In 2010, he was listed as one of the most talked-about and most frequently appearing figures on television screens in Türkiye by the Interpress Media Monitoring Center, with 131 news reports. In the 2011 Turkish general election, he was elected as a Member of Parliament for the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) from Iğdır. He is a member of the Türkiye-Albania and Türkiye-Niger Parliamentary Friendship Groups and serves as the Secretary-General of the Türkiye-Azerbaijan Parliamentary Friendship Group. On August 26, 2015, he was expelled from the Nationalist Movement Party but was reinstated after winning his legal case on November 2, 2015. On March 10, 2017, he was again expelled from the MHP along with Balıkesir MP Ismail Ok, Kayseri MP Yusuf Halaçoğlu, and Isparta MP Nuri Okutan. He has been nominated as a candidate for the 2023 Turkish presidential election by the ATA Alliance.
