The leader of Turkey's main opposition party has called for elections to be held "in November at the latest" following the country's worst mass unrest in a decade.
In a bid to mobilise its supporters, the ANP party held an extraordinary congress in Ankara to re-elect its leader Özgür Özel, who ran unopposed and won overwhelming support of 1,171 votes out of 1,276, AFP reported.
The congress comes as Turkey is quelling the country's biggest mass demonstrations in years, sparked by the arrest last month of popular opposition Istanbul mayor and PPP presidential candidate Ekrem Imamoglu.
"In November at the latest, you will come to confront our candidate," Özel said, addressing Erdogan, hailing his party's campaign against the Turkish president as "the biggest vote of no confidence in history."
"We will oppose you, we want our candidate to be on our side. We urge you to once again appeal to the will of the people," Özel added.
Nearly 1,900 people were detained during the unrest following the arrest of the man considered Erdogan's biggest political challenger, including several hundred students, journalists and young people.
Özel has become the face of the protests and the party hopes Sunday's rally will help counter further political and judicial pressure following the dismissal and arrest of seven mayors from its ranks. | BGNES