Iran Press/ Asia: "They failed to do it during the attempted coup; now they will try it again during the election. [Will it be] only here [in Turkiye]? They tried to do it in Hungary. [Hungarian President Viktor] Orban threw [George] Soros out of Hungary; they nominated three candidates [for the presidency] against Orban," Suleyman Soylu said in an interview with a Turkish broadcaster.
Soylu added that Hungarian Interior Minister Sandor Pinter had warned him about the US providing financial support for Turkish non-governmental organizations in order to interfere with the upcoming election. He also accused the US of orchestrating coups in Turkiye in 1960 and 1971.
The Turkish minister said there was a recording of a meeting between a person "now making many statements" with an ambassador "of one interested country," who was briefed on "how to make a mess" four months prior by his interior minister during the latter's visit to Turkiye. However, Soylu refused to name the country and the person in question.
Soylu expressed confidence that incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdogan would easily win the presidential election already in the first round of votes.
He noted, however, that no one knows what might happen in Turkiye in the 11 days remaining before the election.
Presidential and parliamentary elections are scheduled to be held in Turkiye on May 14. Kemal Kilicdaroglu, put forward by a seven-party opposition alliance, is considered Erdogan's main opponent. The list of presidential candidates also includes Ince and Sinan Ogan of the ATA Alliance. If none of them manages to win more than 50% of the votes, a second round will be scheduled on May 28.
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