By Athena Papakosta

“As the president of Turkey there is hardly any leader in the world with whom I am at odds or hold a grudge. I have met with all of them and from now on I will continue to do so. This is the interest of my country. If you put one country aside then you lose.” Recep Tayyip Erdogan with the air of a winner in waiting determines the next day’s strategy with both Russia and the United States of America in the place of interlocutor.

“We have no intention of provoking one country and reaching out to another, as the Republican People’s Party did when provoking Russia. Until today, we followed a policy aimed at embracing all countries. In other words, we are in communication and contact with Russia and the United States and with China as well as with the countries of the West,” the Turkish president said in an interview.

With 10 days to go until the second and final round of Turkey’s elections, the Turkish president is stepping up his campaign trail by mocking his presidential candidate, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, insisting that elections are not won in the kitchens but in the squares.

But the united opposition in Turkey, despite the irritation and gloom, remains united for the realization of the goal of ousting Erdogan from power. However, the Turkish president remains the favorite of the second round and the Table of Six decides to further promote the mayor of Istanbul and candidate for vice president of Turkey, Ekrem Imamoglu.

At the same time, the candidate for president, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, having returned, according to Erdogan, to his office, once again addresses the young people, calling on them to support him. “Whoever loves his country should go to the polls” he points out and pledging that “we will fight to the end” he expresses his certainty that the opposition camp will “definitely” win.

Kilicdaroglu does not take the Turkish president himself out of his sights, reminding voters of Erdogan’s efforts to lead the Middle East but also of his close ties with the Kremlin, accusing him, more specifically, of being wary of Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin.

In particular, he declares: “We will not hand over our country to a so-called world leader who until recently was the co-chairman of the “Greater Middle East” project, while now he has been placed under the instructions of Russia and sits with his head bowed and his hands folded in front of the its leader”.

For its part, the People’s Republican Party (CHP) denounces thousands of irregularities in the counting of votes, as the vice-president of the CHP stated that “we found and denounced irregularities in a total of 2,269 ballots for the presidential elections and 4,825 ballots for the parliamentary elections held simultaneously on Sunday ».

But the West, according to the Financial Times, is already preparing for the continuation of coexistence with that “unreliable” ally in Ankara, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who once again sings to his voters that “our history is a flame” while, the Turkish presidency expresses its anger over the cover of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in which the Turkish president is depicted in a bathtub being electrocuted with the headline “only fate will rid us of him”.

For his part, Erdogan’s spokesman, İbrahim Kalin, replies that Turkey “will give you the best answer on May 28 with a stentorian voice” and life continues with the countdown to the second round in ten days from today being in full development.