Turkey's Erdogan starts campaigning for snap June elections

Turkey: Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish President, unofficially kicked off his re-election campaign on Saturday, April 28, vowing to defeat the secularist opposition in the "historic" snap elections that he has called for in June.
Although yet to formally declare his candidacy, Erdogan held what was effectively his first campaign rally in the coastal city of Izmir, the stronghold of the secular CHP opposition party, promising thousands of flag-waving supporters victory in the presidential and parliamentary polls.
"The opposition parties have only one obsession and it's to get rid of Erdogan. They think if Tayyip Erdogan doesn't exist, our people will treat them with great respect," he told the crowd.
Impatient to get new executive powers approved by last years referendum, Erdogan last week called elections more than a year earlier than scheduled as he said Turkey needed a more powerful presidency to confront economic challenges and the war in Syria.
The sudden election announcement surprised opposition parties, leaving them yet to nominate presidential candidates. Former president Abdullah Gul, one of the founding members of the AK Party, said he would not be a candidate, ending weeks of speculation. Erdogan has won nearly a dozen elections and dominated Turkish politics since the AK party swept to power in 2002.