Sex, lies and videotape: The scandal that is shaking up Turkey’s election 

Turkey’s presidential race just got a lot more interesting. A third-party candidate has withdrawn from the race after the release of a purported sex tape. The move could tip the 14 May polls to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s main challenger. Let’s take a closer look: What happened? Muharrem Ince, leader of the center-left Homeland party, told reporters he was dropping out of the race after a ‘slander campaign’, as per CNN. According to Al Jazeera, footage released on social media purportedly showed Ince having sex with an unknown woman. Ince has said the ‘sex tape’ is a deepfake and uses footage from ‘an Israeli porn site’, as per The Guardian. “If I had such images of myself, they were taken secretly in the past. But I do not have such an image, no such sound recording. This is not my private life, it’s slander. It’s not real.”

“What I have seen in these last 45 days, I have not seen in 45 years,” Ince added.

“Turkey could not protect my reputation. A presidential candidate’s reputation is important,” Ince said, as per Al Jazeera. The online smear campaign also included doctored images of Ince meeting women and riding around in fancy cars. “Unfortunately some people in Turkey shared those for the sake of being in so-called Opposition,” Ince was quoted as saying by BBC. “Such a slander has never been seen in the history of the republic,” Ince said, as per Al Jazeera.  “I have no fear of these plots. I am withdrawing from the nomination. I’m doing this for my homeland.” Ince also said another reason he dropped out is that he did not wish to be blamed by the Opposition for swinging the election to Erdogan, as per BBC. “They will have no excuses if they lose the election,” Ince said, in an apparent reference to Kilicdaroglu. However, Ince did not give any candidate his endorsement, as per CNN. He also urged every household to cast at least one ballot for his Homeland party. How does this affect the race? Ince’s withdrawal is bad news for Erdogan. [caption id=“attachment_12562742” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Turkish president and People’s Alliance’s presidential candidate Recep Tayyip Erdogan gives a speech during an election rally campaign in Istanbul, Turkey. AP[/caption] Ince in 2018 picked up 30.6 percent of the vote when he challenged President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He then broke away from the Republican People’s Party to form his Homeland party this year, as per CNN. Ince and his party then began to draw votes away from secular leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu – the joint candidate of the anti-Erdogan bloc. The Turkish president’s campaign has been hampered by Turkey’s worst economic crisis since the 1990s and public frustration at the crackdown he unleashed after surviving a 2016 coup. Erdogan’s main rival is secular leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu – the joint candidate of the anti-Erdogan bloc. The latest opinion polls showed Kilicdaroglu leading Erdogan by a few percentage points but falling just short of breaking the 50-percent threshold required for a first-round win.

Ince had come under fierce criticism from the Opposition for entering the campaign just two months before the vote.

Ince argued that he offered voters a more vibrant alternative to the 74-year-old Kilicdaroglu – a bookish former civil servant with a dire national election record against Erdogan. The Opposition is now also more united than in any past campaign against Erdogan. Kilicdaroglu’s six-party alliance spans Turkey’s religious and cultural spectrum and includes some of Erdogan’s own former allies. It is the type of coalition that helped Erdogan and his Islamic-rooted party keep winning at the polls. But critics saw him as a spoiler candidate who could only help Erdogan extend his two-decade rule until 2028. Ince is currently at 2 per cent in some polls, as per The Guardian. While he only has a small slice of the pie, analysts say his presence might have thrown the race into a run-off – which would only favour the incumbent. “As the election day became closer, all votes were converging on (Erdogan and Kilicdaroglu and) Ince’s votes were falling,” Murat Somer, a political science professor at Koc University in Istanbul, told CNN. “He and his party did not want to take this responsibility,” he said. “Polls put his support at a few points, which might have pushed the vote to a runoff,” Gonul Tol, director of the Middle East Institute’s Center for Turkish Studies in Washington, DC, told Al Jazeera. “This boosts Kilicdaroglu’s prospects in the first round further.” [caption id=“attachment_12578682” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader of Turkey’s main Opposition Republican People’s Party, CHP, casts his ballot at a primary school in Ankara, Turkey. APB[/caption] “Ince was drawing on support from voters dissatisfied both with Erdogan and Kilicdaroglu,” Hamish Kinnear, senior Middle East and North Africa analyst at risk intelligence company Verisk Maplecroft, wrote in emailed comments. “While polling indicates that a majority of Ince’s voters are likely to flip to Kilicdaroglu, it’s unclear if there will be enough voters to give him an outright victory in the first round,” he said. Erdogan has been in power since 2003. The announcement appeared to catch Turkey’s 69-year-old leader off guard. “One of the candidates has withdrawn. It is impossible to understand why this happened. Honestly, I am sad,” Erdogan told a rally in Ankara.

“I wish he had continued until the end.”

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Erdogan has been staging daily rallies at which he announced incentives and bonuses to voters aimed at spurring support. He pledged on Thursday to double the size of a previously promised wage hike for public workers. A fourth minor candidate – nationalist Sinan Ogan – is believed to be mostly drawing votes away from Erdogan. “Another crazy day in Turkish politics,” emerging markets economist Timothy Ash remarked. “Ince withdraws, with the assumption that most of his votes now go to Kilicdaroglu, making it possible/more likely (for a Kilicdaroglu) first round win.” Kilicdaroglu has been appealing for days for Ince to formally back his candidacy. “Let’s put aside the old resentments,” Kilicdaroglu tweeted on Thursday. “We welcome Mr Ince to the Turkish (Opposition) table. Please come, please.” Meanwhile, Kilicdaroglu warned Russia against meddling in Turkey’s elections in favor of Erdogan, who has built a close relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin. “Our dear Russian friends. You are behind the montages, conspiracies and deepfake content that were spread in this country yesterday,” Kilicdaroglu tweeted in Turkish and Russian. “If you want our friendship to continue after May 15, you must take your hands off the Turkish state. We are still in favor of cooperation and friendship.” The presidential hopeful did not elaborate, and it was not immediately clear what content he was referring to. With inputs from agencies Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.