Kilicdaroglu: Meeting with HDP Co-Chairs being planned

Opposition joint presidential candidate and CHP leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu said in an interview with the website T24 on Monday that his meeting with the pro-Kurdish leaders of the HDP (People's Democratic Party) was being planned.

Earlier, he had said he would "of course" visit the HDP after HDP co-chair Mithat Sancar said he expected to visit to discuss principles and reverse the party's decision to field a candidate for the election and support Kilicdaroglu instead.

"I will meet with the valuable co-chairs of the HDP. My friends are planning the meeting," he said.

The HDP, which accounts for 10-12% of the electoral vote, is widely seen as a kingmaker in presidential and parliamentary elections set for May 14, and the opposition bloc will likely need its support to end President Tayyip Erdogan's two-decade political rule.

Kilicdaroglu also denounced ultranationalist leader Devlet Bahceli, who ignored Amedspor, a football club from the southeastern Turkish city of Diyarbakir, because of its Kurdish name.

"The Turkish Football Federation approved this name years ago. For about 10 years, they played hundreds of matches and traveled all over Turkey; Amedspor received teams from all over Turkey that came to Diyarbakir. Did they just hear the name Amedspor?" he said.