Candidate for Turkish presidential elections Sinan Ogan, who is supported by the ATA Alliance and finished third with more than 5% of votes, announced Monday his support for current Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the runoff.
Ogan’s support in the second round, slated for May 28, will be decisive as Erdogan (from AKP party) obtained initially only 49.52% of votes, while his major rival Kemal Kilicdaroglu of the CHP received 44.88%. No single candidate managed to secure more than half the ballots cast in the first round.
In a press conference, Ogan explained that his decision, which was made after long consultations with ATA political leaders, was based on the convergence of viewpoints on the national defense industry and the return of refugees, especially Syrian ones.