In addition, “the opposition did not campaign heavily in the area and could not offer an alternative, credible message,” Esen said. The Turkish leader mentions these messages often on the campaign trail, trying to blame them on Kilicdaroglu. Kilicdaroglu is trying to do the same, telling Tuesday’s rally that “nobody should ever doubt” his ability to rebuild the region. Campaigning any harder might have given the impression that the opposition was trying to profit from people’s grief, Tiryaki said. “The Turkish left is no longer the same,” he said in Kirikhan, a northern Hatay district that backed Erdogan.
