Turkey’s former Consul General in Iraq’s Mosul city Ozturk Yilmaz announced on Friday that he intends to run in the upcoming elections against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Yilmaz served as consul general in 2013 and was kidnapped by the ISIS terrorist group in 2014. He was held captive for 101 days along with 48 other diplomats when the terrorists captured Mosul.
Erdogan announced on Wednesday snap polls for June 24. The motion to hold the elections was approved by parliament on Friday. The elections were originally set for November 3, 2019.
Yilmaz, 47, will run for the Republican People's Party (CHP), the country’s largest opposition group if head of the party, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, does not.
Kilicdaroglu had previously stated that he does not intend to run.
Yilmaz underlined during a press conference in Ankara on Friday the importance of the strategy that the opposition will follow during the polls.
Last month, he had accused the government of delivering him and the rest of his consulate employees in Mosul to the clutches of ISIS.
Erdogan’s announcement of the snap polls sparked a flurry of political activity in Turkey.
Prime Minister Binali Yildirim stated that the elections were a necessity imposed by the geo-political conditions in the region.
“History will write that the elections saved Turkey from all the conspiracies being plotted against it.”
“The elections will mark the end of my political career because I will be the last serving prime minister in the history of the Turkish republic after the presidential system is put into place after the June elections,” he added.
A new executive presidency will come into force after the elections.
Last year, Erdogan won a controversial referendum which saw the people vote in favor of abolishing the position of prime minister and transforming the country into a presidential system.
