Recap Tayyip Erdogan
President Recap Tayyip Erdogan defended Russia’s Vladimir Putin on Friday against claims of interfering in Turkey’s crucial weekend election.
Erdogan’s secular rival Kemal Kilicdaroglu accused unnamed Russian entities on Thursday of spreading deep fakes and other disinformation in order to influence the outcome of Sunday’s vote.
The Kremlin strongly refuted the accusation and Erdogan defended Putin in a televised campaign appearance on Friday.
Recap Tayyip Erdogan said, “Mr. Kemal is attacking Russia, Mr. Putin. If you attack Putin, I will not be okay with that”.
He further said, “Our relations with Russia are no less important than those with the United States”.
Throughout Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Erdogan has maintained solid working relations with Putin.
Turkey has profited from Russian energy import subsidies while refusing to join Western sanctions against the Kremlin.
According to polls, Erdogan is embroiled in a close race with his secular opposition rival.
Kilicdaroglu’s remarks come amid an increasingly shady campaign that saw third-party candidate Muharrem Ince withdraw on Thursday.
Ince made the announcement after being targeted by an online campaign that included doctored photographs of him seeing ladies and driving about in expensive cars.
During rallies, Erdogan has also been broadcasting misleading videos that attempt to link Kilicdaroglu to members of a banned Kurdish force that Turkey and its supporters regard as terrorists.
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