Erdogan has maintained good working relations with Putin all through Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Istanbul, Turkey:

President Recept Tayyip Erdogan on Friday defended Russia’s Vladimir Putin from allegations of meddling in Turkey’s essential weekend election.

Erdogan’s secular rival Kemal Kilicdaroglu on Thursday accused unnamed Russian actors of spreading “deep fakes” and different disinformation aimed toward swaying the end result of Sunday’s vote.

The Kremlin “strongly” denied the allegation and Erdogan stood up for Putin at a televised marketing campaign look on Friday.

“Mr. Kemal is attacking Russia, Mr. Putin. If you attack Putin, I will not be okay with that,” Erdogan mentioned.

“Our relations with Russia are no less important than those with the United States.”

Erdogan has maintained good working relations with Putin all through Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Turkey has benefited from rebates on Russian vitality imports and refused to subscribe to Western sanctions on the Kremlin.

Polls present Erdogan locked in a good battle in opposition to his secular opposition rival.

Kilicdaroglu’s feedback got here within the warmth of an more and more soiled marketing campaign that noticed third-party candidate Muharrem Ince pull out on Thursday.

Ince introduced his determination after being focused by a web-based marketing campaign that included doctored pictures of him assembly ladies and driving round in fancy vehicles.

Erdogan has additionally been broadcasting deceptive movies throughout rallies that attempt to hyperlink Kilicdaroglu with members of a banned Kurdish militia that Turkey and its allies view as “terrorists”.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)