Turkey goes to the polls as Erdogan faces his sternest test

Voters are heading to the polls in Turkey’s most consequential election in two decades as longtime leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan seeks to fend off a united opposition led by Kemal Kilikdaroglu.

Voting for the presidential and parliamentary elections began at 8 a.m. Ankara time on Sunday, presenting two widely different paths for Turkey.

Erdogan, who first brought his Justice and Development Party (AKP) to power in 2002, is fighting his toughest campaign yet as he clashes with Kılıçdaroğlu, representing a six-party opposition coalition. Turkey, a member of NATO, has played an increasingly important role on the international stage in recent years, as the results will bring global resonance.

Kılıçdaroğlu has vowed to revive Turkey’s ailing economy, bring the country closer to the orbit of the West and restore key institutions during Erdoğan’s long tenure first as prime minister and now as president.

The 74-year-old opposition leader has regularly campaigned alongside other populist politicians who are part of the “Table of Six” coalition, which includes the mayors of Turkey’s largest cities, Istanbul and Ankara.

Polls published in recent days have given Kılıçdaroğlu an edge over his 69-year-old rival, with Erdoğan’s handling of the country’s $900bn economy severely denting his support. But analysts and even senior opposition officials have warned against underestimating Erdogan, who has dominated Turkish politics since Mustafa Kemal Atatürk founded the republic a century ago.

“Everything is up in the air,” said Ali Çarkoğlu, a political-science professor at Istanbul’s Koç University, who added that Turkey remained “deeply divided on identity issues”.

Erdoğan, whose last campaign appearance on Saturday was attending evening prayers at Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia mosque, remains popular among conservative, devout voters in Turkey’s Anatolian heartland.

At fiery campaign rallies, Erdoğan has cast himself as the only man who can secure a prosperous future for Turkey and defend family values. He has accused Kılıçdaroğlu, a member of the minority Alevi sect in predominantly Sunni Muslim Turkey, of being a “drunk”.

In a sign of pressure from Erdogan in a tightly contested race, the president claimed on Saturday, without evidence, that the opposition was working with US President Joe Biden.

Biden instructed that ‘we have to bring Erdogan down.’ I know this. All my people know this, ”said Erdoğan. Now tomorrow the ballot boxes will answer Biden as well.

In recent weeks, Erdoğan has increased wages for public sector workers, given one month of free natural gas to consumers, distributed 10GB of internet for students and attended the inauguration of new facilities that he Said that will promote Turkey’s energy independence and give it a greater role. on the world stage.

Analysts said that although Erdoğan’s handouts and massive holding of the media meant the election campaign was not fair, polling day should be mostly free.

Still, many remain concerned about whether Erdoğan will relinquish power if he loses, especially if the results are close.

Late Friday, Erdogan vowed to respect the result, saying in a televised interview: “We came to power in Turkey in a democratic way, like we came to power with the support of the people, if our people make a different decision, So whatever democracy we do, we will do.” Needed.”

Twitter said on Saturday that it would “restrict access to certain content in Turkey” in response to a “legal process”. Owner Elon Musk later tweeted that his company was faced with the choice of having the website “fully throttled or limit access to certain tweets”, and that he would share what the government had sent to Twitter.

Among content users in Turkey who did not have large followings were accounts that accused Erdoğan of corruption.

Erdoğan or Kılıçdaroğlu must secure more than half the vote to win the election, or else it will go into an unprecedented run-off in two weeks’ time. The party’s minor candidate Muharram Ince dropped out of the race on Thursday, but his name will remain on the ballots. Sinan Ogan, the candidate of another minor party, is still competing in the election.

Turks will also vote in parliamentary elections on Sunday, which could shake the balance of power. A coalition between Erdogan’s AKP and the ultranationalist Nationalist Movement party holds a majority in the legislative branch.

Additional reporting by Ayla Jean Yackle