Morsi an issue in Turkey's presidential campaign
Surprise presidential candidate Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu comes with an even more surprising political baggage.
No Turkey expert will be spared this agony. If you have not already — whether you are fluent in Turkish or not — you better start spelling out this name now: Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu. For English speakers, it's best to check out Al-Monitor contributor Steven A. Cook’s tweet on how to say his name. Ihsanoglu may well be the next president of Turkey. Whether he wins or not, his rather difficult-to-pronounce name will be in the news at least until Aug. 10, the day of the Turkish presidential elections.
On June 16, the two main opposition parties, the Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the Nationalist Action Party (MHP), announced their joint candidate for the presidency. The MHP had proposed the idea of an “umbrella candidate” (the direct translation in Turkish of “cati adayi” is “roof candidate,” spawning political jokes about rooftops). Although these two parties are quite far apart on the ideological spectrum, their tacit alliance started during the municipal elections of March 30. Knowing well that they could not stand alone against the Justice and Development Party (AKP), their alliance guarantees the majority of anti-AKP (or anti-Erdogan) votes will work together. Yet, as the last election proved, just being anti-AKP is not sufficient. The CHP and MHP realized they must come up with a candidate who not only can stand the heat from AKP’s religious rhetoric, but also has a chance to attract voters from the AKP’s core. Their candidate, at least on paper, seems to be able to do just that.
