The boil has been lanced. The debate over the Alevi faith of Turkey’s main opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu and what it means for his electoral fortunes in a potential face-off with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan finally spilled out into the public when Ahmet Sik, a left-wing lawmaker and former journalist, made his opinions known.
Sik articulated what many privately thought but dared not say: that Kilicdaroglu’s Alevi roots are a hindrance. Sik was forced to apologize and clarify his remarks after facing sharp criticism for providing fodder to Erdogan, who has played the Alevi card against Kilicdaroglu in the past.
