Sinan Ogan was not known to many before Türkiye’s recent elections. But now, after he got about 5 percent of the vote in the first round, he is being called the “kingmaker,” as his declaration of support for President Erdogan may confirm the latter in the presidential chair once again.
Sinan Ogan was the candidate of the ancestral coalition “ATA”, which is described as nationalist and far-right, in the presidential elections in Turkey.
Ogan, in his mid-50s, is a former academic specializing in political science and economics, and comes from an Azerbaijani family. Ogan is the youngest of his brothers, and his father worked as a farmer in his hometown of Igdir in eastern Turkey.
Ogan studied Business Administration at Marmara University, then obtained a master’s degree in Financial Law. In 2009 Ogan obtained a Ph.D. from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations in Russia.
He represents secular nationalism and is committed to the principles of the founder of the modern state, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, far from the principles of the conservative Islamic Justice and Development Party led by Erdogan.
The Turkish politician was previously a member of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), which is part of the “Republican Alliance”, which also includes the “Justice and Development” party, that is, the party of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Ogan began his political career in 2011 as a member of parliament for the National Movement Party of his hometown, Igdir, in the far east of Turkey.
In 2017, Ogan was expelled from the party permanently after he opposed the party’s support for the referendum that Erdogan conducted in 2017 to transform the system of government in his country from a parliamentary to a presidential one.
During the current presidential race in Turkey, Ogan built his electoral campaign on two foundations: the return of refugees, especially Syrians, to their country, as well as the fight against terrorism.
In the presidential elections, Ogan won more than five percent of the vote, i.e. third place after opposition leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu and President Erdogan, who came in first place.
The ultra-nationalist announced on Monday that he would support the outgoing President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the second round of the presidential elections in Turkey on Sunday, while all circles were waiting for his position.
