One day before the deadline expired, Sinan Ogan managed to obtain more than 100,000 signatures required by law, to be the fourth candidate in the upcoming Turkish presidential elections next Sunday.
The man would not have needed these signatures if his party or the parties supporting him had obtained 5% of the vote in the previous elections, as stipulated in the same law.
After accepting his candidacy, Ogan added to his social media account the description of the “independent presidential candidate”, and says that he “will be the candidate who appeals to the nationalists”.
Sinan Oğan is running for a far-right coalition of parties called the Grandfathers (ATA), a coalition of small ultra-nationalist parties, and pledges to expel all refugees and immigrants.
And while the competition will be fierce between President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the candidate that the opposition agreed upon, represented by the six-party table, Kamal Kılıçdaroğlu, the chances of Sinan Oğan, as well as the candidate Muharrem Ince, seem slim, according to observers.
Who is Sinan Ogan?
Sinan Ogan, who was born in 1976, is of Azeri descent. He is a researcher, former academic, and founder of the “Turksam Research Center”.
And the “New Arab” website states that the man completed his postgraduate studies at the Faculty of Administrative and Economic Sciences from Marmara University.
-In addition, Ogan is a former deputy of the right-wing Nationalist Movement Party, after he entered the parliamentary symposium in 2011.
-But the man, who tried to reach the party leadership in 2015, according to Reuters, did not succeed in that.
He was expelled twice, one in 2015 and the second in 2017, due to his “anti-activities” against this party led by Devlet Bahceli, and he met with the “Justice and Development” party on a common front in Parliament, while Bahceli announced his support for Erdogan’s candidacy in the 2023 elections.
Ogan was one of the most prominent names that led the internal opposition movement in the “National Movement” party before it was dismissed, along with Miral Aksnar, who later founded the “Good” party, and the current deputy, Umit Ozdag, who now leads the “Victory” party.
Turkish elections of 2023
Sinan Ogan is running in the 2023 Turkish presidential elections on May 14, and he has built his promises on the main title of returning refugees and migrants to their countries.
The coalition of parties that he is running for includes several nationalist parties, including the “Victory” party led by Ozdag.
The latter is known for his racist attitudes towards foreigners, especially Syrians and Afghans, and he said in one of his statements: “Either you accept the presence of 13 million refugees in Turkey, or you go to walk with us.”
