Turkey: Opposition leader starts US tour for “2nd century vision”

Turkey’s main opposition CHP leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu on Sunday  started a three day visit to the United States amid increasing signs showing his willingness to sit for the joint candidate of the opposition bloc in next year’s presidential elections.

Kilicdaroglu’s first stop in what he calls “2nd Century Vision Tour” will be the city of Boston where he will join conferences in Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the University of Harvard. 

Kilicdaroglu told the journalists traveling with him that Turkey should disengage from ideological cliches.

“This is the reason we are going to MIT. That is the world's number 1 university in science. We will sit down and talk to scientists there, see the progress,” he said.   

The opposition leader will then move to Washington where he will meet representatives of non governmental organizations. 

An aide to Kilicdaroglu who is responsible for communications hinted that the US is only the first leg of a tour that will cover many other states. 

“The grand vision journey is part of the program that covers reaching the new generation infrastructure, new generation skills, new generation finance and technologies that our country needs. It is the vision of the second century of the Turkish Republic,” said Omer Topsakal, the director of communications for Kilicdaroglu.