Turkey’s Erdogan Criticizes Rivals Over Candidate Squabbles
- ‘They sat, they talked and they dispersed,’ Erdogan said
- Anti-Erdogan bloc on brink of collapse over joint candidate
Kemal Kilicdaroglu in Ankara, Turkey on March 3.
Photographer: Adem Altan/AFP/Getty Images
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Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused his rivals of political squabbling after the opposition alliance failed to come up with a joint presidential candidate ahead of elections in May.
“They sat, they talked and they dispersed,” President Erdogan said in Istanbul on Saturday after six opposition leaders met this week without reaching an agreement about a candidate. In an attempt to turn the tables on critics of his handling the humanitarian crisis caused by two deadly earthquakes, Erdogan said his own focus was on people. “Our concern is lives,” he told reporters.